Threat
by shadowswan
Summary: Cal won't believe anyone is threatening the Lightman Group, but surely he can't pass it off as coincidence that one by one, his colleagues are being attacked. Not accepting the truth may come at the ultimate price, but is this the one truth Cal doesn't want to know? Tensions run high, relationships are strained, and the Lightman Group are tested in a way like never before.
1. Shock

**Disclaimer: Lie To Me isn't mine - never has been, and unfortunately, probably never will be.**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey; thanks for clicking in! This is my first go at writing a Lie To Me fic, so I hope it's not a total disaster. Usually my chapters are a little longer than this, but as my intentions are for this just to be a very short and intense story, I thought I'd make the chapters a little bit shorter too. I love feedback, whether it's good or bad, so reviews always make me happy, and just so you're ready, this may change to M later on, in case I feel it's getting a bit too dark. Also, this is the first time I've ever written anything in third person, so let me know how it's gone. Enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><span>1. Shock<span>

"Foster," Cal yelled, sticking his head out of his office door.

Gillian Foster turned to look at him from where she was stood at the other end of the corridor, easily fifty metres away. She lifted her arms up, as if to ask what he wanted, but he just waved his hand, beckoning her to him.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, but turned on her heel and proceeded to walk back up the corridor to where Cal was waiting. He smirked as he saw her moving closer, and she shook her head.

"What?" she asked as she finally paused in front of him.

"You were passing by, thought you might like a cup of tea," said Cal simply.

He walked back into his office, and Gillian followed him inside.

"Cal. I was hardly passing by," she said irritably.

"I could see you and you could see me, so I'm classing that as you passing by," he said, busying himself with mugs and teabags. "You want a cuppa, right?"

"Well now I'm here, I guess I'll have a coffee," said Gillian exasperatedly.

"I'll get you drinking tea one day," muttered Cal, throwing one of the teabags back into the pot and spooning some coffee into the mug instead.

"That'll be an interesting day," Gillian said. "So what do you want Cal? I have work to do."

He turned round to look at her, frowning.

"Look love, I'm not stupid. We haven't got any cases this week, so how you would have so much work to do that you can't even sit down and have a catch up is beyond me."

Gillian went to defend herself, but fell silent when she realised Cal was right. She knew that he'd planned this as well. Every so often, Cal liked to keep entire weeks free from any cases, supposedly so his staff could catch up with any paperwork they had or to work on their own projects with his equipment, but Gillian found it far too convenient that he'd happened to schedule one this week.

"Thought as much," he nodded, turning back to the drinks he was preparing. "So, you're either avoiding me or trying to get as much work done now as possible, so you can skip out on me at the end of the week."

She went to protest again, and Cal smirked.

"So you were avoiding me," he nodded, handing her the mug of coffee, wrinkling his nose at it.

"Cal," she sighed. "I wasn't avoiding you."

"No, I know love," he said. "You were avoiding a conversation between us. Except, I'm your annoying, pushy colleague, so that's rather impossible to do."

He raised his eyebrows at her and then smiled. She knitted her eyebrows instead, sipping her coffee slowly.

"Come on then, let's sit down and talk about things," Cal said, already wandering over to one of the couches in the more private section of his office.

"I really do have work to do," Gillian protested, but her feet were already reluctantly following Cal.

"Don't we all," he muttered. "Look, Foster, we've been snowed under with cases for a month now, and for a month I've seen you crumbling."

"So I was right," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Probably, right about what?" he asked, making himself comfortable on the couch while trying not to spill tea anywhere.

"About you specifically calling this week as one of the ones you wanted to take off," she said, perching delicately next to Cal. She really didn't want to be here right now.

"She's good," he said, winking at her.

"Cal," she said, huffing in a frustrated way.

"Oh come on Foster, I had to check if you were okay somehow, and there was no way you were going to come and see me while you had actual work to do, and I'm betting the thought of coming over to my place right now makes you feel almost ill."

She looked down and he snorted.

"Now I'm the one who's right. So what were you going to do? Bury your head in a case until this was over and then start talking to me again?"

"Pretty much," she nodded, sipping her coffee again.

"Yeah, see that doesn't work for me love," he said, frowning. "Because you are my friend, and I can see that you're hurting right now, and quite frankly, I don't really like it."

"Well neither do I believe it or not," she said, in a sharper tone than Cal was used to.

He looked her up and down for a moment, then stood up and walked away.

"Alright, apologies Foster," he said, setting his mug down on the coaster next to his laptop, and holding his hands up in surrender. "I have clearly misjudged this situation massively. I thought you were avoiding the subject, but deep down, you needed to talk about it with someone, but evidently, that's not the case, and you just want to keep quiet. Sorry for disturbing you darling, go back to what were you doing."

She stood up, somehow looking angrier now than before.

"Just because I haven't spoken to you about it, doesn't mean I want to keep it quiet. Have you considered, Cal, that I might have friends outside of this place, outside of you, that I can talk about things with? Or is your ego really that big?"

He leaned back a bit, surprised at the intensity of his words. He'd seen Foster get mad before, but usually it was from stress or pressure. She'd never really taken aim at him personally before.

For once, Cal Lightman was at a loss for words.

"I'm going back to my office now," Gillian said quietly, setting her coffee down on the table beside the couch, and leaving the room.

"Bye," Cal called, confused. "Want me to come and-"

"No," she said shortly, not even turning back to look at him.

He let out an almighty sigh, and then wandered over to look out of the window. This usually calmed him down, made him thoughtful, and brain power was definitely something he needed right now.

How on earth had that ended up in an argument? He wanted to chalk it down to Foster's personal life, and the emotional stuff she was going through right now, but what she'd said had been harsh, too harsh. Cal was starting to think he might have screwed something else up but was unaware of it, and now Gillian was being a typical woman and letting him know he'd done something wrong, but not telling him what it was.

Outside Lightman's office, Gillian was stood, frozen in shock, hand over her mouth. She could not believe what had just tumbled out of her mouth, and worse, she couldn't believe Cal hadn't seen that she was lying.

They both knew she didn't have anyone else like Cal, in the same way he had no one else like her, but as the spiteful words came out, he'd been so stunned that he had swallowed it all without question.

Gillian felt guilty and annoyed at the same time, and it was a terrible combination. Yes, it irritated her when Cal launched an invasion and demanded to know what was going on, but he was doing it to show he cared, Lightman style. Where the sudden anger had come from, Gillian did not know.

Realising it would be foolish to spend the day outside Cal's door, Gillian went to walk away, but found she couldn't. She knew that firstly, she had to apologise to Cal and make amends, and secondly, she knew that he was right. She really did need someone to talk to at the moment, and there was no other option.

Cal heard a noise from the doorway, and turned, surprised to find Foster stood there looking miserable.

"Foster, look, I'm sorry about whatever I said- oh hey now, none of that," he said.

He was midway through apology, and halfway across the room, before a few tears had started rolling down Gillian's cheeks, and they were getting faster.

Cal edged a bit closer, trying to weigh up the situation, but deeming it to be safe, hugged her tightly, a big bear hug that he knew would make her feel better.

"I'm so sorry," she sniffed against him. "It's just so difficult."

"I know," he said soothingly, squeezing her tight and then pulling back to look at her. "Want to talk?"

She nodded, so Cal ambled over to the couch again, patting the space beside him. This time Gillian curled up properly, and Cal smiled.

"I knew you'd be bad love, but I didn't expect this," he began. "Have I done something to upset you?"

"What? No," she gasped, looking stricken. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take everything out on you. You haven't done anything."

"Oh, thank god," he sighed, feeling considerably lighter again. "So, what's up?"

"Like you don't know," she said, looking at him and smirking slightly, with eyes still red from the crying that had now ceased.

"Yeah well, I thought I'd be polite."

"Cal, you're never polite," she laughed, and he grinned in spite of the insult. Foster's laughter was ten times better than Foster's tears.

"Good point. So, a year."

"A whole year," she sighed.

"Happy? Sad? Indifferent?"

"Confused," she said decidedly.

Cal's heart sank. Confused wasn't the response he'd wanted. Still.

"Confused? Why?"

"Because it's not just a year since the divorce," Gillian sighed. "Alec called a few weeks ago to say he was moving."

Cal looked at her sympathetically. He knew Alec had stayed in the home they'd shared together, and by him moving out of it, I guess he could see why she'd be a little confused. It was like the final nail in the coffin of their marriage.

"I know that it's hard love, but you have to remind yourself that you're better off without him. In a way, maybe it's a good thing he's getting rid of the house; you might be able to properly move on."

"It's not the house," she laughed sadly. "It's the fact he's moving."

If possible, Cal's heart got heavier at this point. She was still in love with Alec, her ex husband. They'd been divorced for a year, and she still loved him secretly, and he knew, he knew without a shadow of a doubt, that Alec would take her back instantly. All she had to do was run back and she'd be his again.

"Well, where's he moving to?"

Rather than sadness, now Cal was experiencing alarm. If Alec was moving somewhere further away and Gillian followed him, that would be the end of their working relationship at least, if not more, and Cal wasn't sure he'd be able to handle that in all honesty.

"Australia."

"Australia?" he choked out.

"I know, it's so far away," she said, frowning.

"Australia?" he repeated.

"Yeah...Cal are you okay? You look really pale suddenly."

She pressed a hand to his forehead, looking concerned. In all honesty, he felt a little faint. He'd expected to be separated from Foster by a few state borders, not an ocean.

"Why Australia?"

"Alec got a new job out there. I think he wants to make a fresh start; get clean, find a new house, maybe start a family with someone."

Cal digested what she'd said, and relaxed ever so slightly.

"Start a family?"

"Yeah, when he rang to tell me, he said that there were loads of single women in the area, so I wished him the best of luck. It was just weird, you know? My ex husband going so far away. I don't think I'll miss him at all, but that's why I'm confused. And because it's so close to the one year date after all."

"You're not going with him?" Cal clarified.

"Why would I be going with him?" Gillian asked, looking at Cal as if he'd spoken a different language.

"I thought that maybe...never mind," he sighed, so relieved he could barely speak.

"Cal are you okay?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I'm a hell of a lot better right now than I was five minutes ago love," he reassured her. "And honestly, I think him going is a good thing. You'll be able to move on properly."

"I know," she sighed. "It just gets to me though. I let my marriage fail."

"Gillian," he said, looking at her sternly. Her eyes widened at his use of her full name. "You were not the cause of the breakdown of your marriage. Alec was. You mustn't blame yourself."

She looked at him sadly, but Cal stared back earnestly, wishing she'd believe him.

"Look, I really do have work to do," she said, frowning. "But thanks for listening. You're right, I feel better."

"Thought you might. I haven't helped much though," he said uncertainly.

"You listened," she smiled, and stood up.

Cal got up with her, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know it's tough for you at the moment," he said. "If you need me, I'm in this office, you know that."

"Yeah I do," she said softly. "Thanks Cal."

This time Gillian was the first to hug Cal, but a knock at the door interrupted them.

"Lightman, this just came through, could you please- oh, wow, I'm so sorry for interrupting."

Ria Torres' head had been buried in the pile of sheets she was currently holding, and she hadn't noticed the embrace between Cal and Gillian until she was already a metre inside of the office. Torres was not someone who blushed or got embarrassed, but she knew when a presence made the atmosphere awkward, especially when it was the employee walking in on her employers.

Luckily, Cal Lightman was the king of awkward situations, and brushed it off easily.

"No worries Torres, you could've walked in on something much worse," he said cheerily, winking at her.

Gillian was the type to blush though, and her cheeks promptly turned crimson.

"So, what have you got for me?"

"I don't know," she said, sounding worried and frustrated. "Someone faxed it to the group, and Heidi has no idea who it was."

"Does it not have a name? Most files have some sort of clue," Cal said, stroking Gillian's shoulder and then wandering over to Ria.

"That's the thing," Torres said, chewing her lip. "It's not a file. It's more of a...well, it almost looks like..."

"Spit it out love," sighed Cal.

"Well, it sounds like someone's threatening the Lightman Group."

* * *

><p><strong>I like cliffhangers. Apologies.<br>**


	2. Threat

**A/N: Not gonna lie, I was a little blown away by the response to the first chapter! It may not seem much to some, but for me, the positive comments meant a lot, as this is my first ever Lie To Me fic! It also spurred me on to write more, so I hope this chapter lives up to expectations! Another thing, last chapter I said this was going to be a short story; I changed my mind. It's going to be a bit longer now - rest assured, this makes it more interesting, but just as intense. Thanks for reading!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><span>2. Threat<span>

"A threat?" Gillian asked, the first one to move over to Ria.

She glanced down at the piece of paper Torres was holding, a copy of the fax that had been sent. Ria looked at her, trying to gauge Gillian's reaction, and she was pleased to see that Gillian looked concerned; she and Heidi hadn't been imagining things.

"So what do you think?" Ria asked, pressing for more information as always.

"Well it certainly sounds like a threat. Maybe not directly at the group, but that's definitely what it sounds like. Cal?"

She looked at her business partner, who was finishing his mug of tea. He paused when she addressed him, and then shrugged.

"Bollocks," he said simply, then took another swig of tea.

"Excuse me?" Gillian asked, astounded.

"Complete and utter bollocks," he said, setting his tea down and wandering over. "There is no way in hell that anyone would fax a threat through. Let me see it."

He held his hand out for the paper and Torres obligingly handed it to him. He scanned it for a second, then handed it back with a sniff.

"You really don't believe it?" Gillian asked doubtfully, an eyebrow raised and a confused look on her face.

"Nah, not for a second. Read it. Aloud. Go on."

This time both Gillian and Ria sported confused looks; it was becoming increasingly obvious that Cal was going insane.

"The truth hurts, with a question mark after it, and then, yeah it does, some more than others," Gillian said slowly.

"Bloody hell, you don't get a sense of it with narration Foster," he said exasperatedly. "Read it as it is, question mark and everything."

"Fine," she huffed, feeling extremely stupid. "The truth hurts? Yeah it does. Some more than others."

"See, now how stupid does that sound?"

"Well it's pretty lame as far as threats go," Ria admitted. "But it still sounds like a threat."

"I am inclined to disagree with you there love. Now, I have paperwork to do, Foster said she has paperwork to do, which was a total lie but I'll honour it, and I do believe you wanted to use my very snazzy equipment for your own ends Torres, something I do not wish to hear about unless you break something. Bye ladies."

Cal grinned at them and then walked over to his comfy desk chair, flopping into it and resting his crossed legs on the table, next to his laptop.

Gillian and Ria watched him, half bemused, half annoyed.

"Cal, are you really just going to ignore this?" Gillian asked.

"Yes."

"Do you not think we should call someone, Reynolds even?" Ria added.

"Nope."

"What do you want us to do with it?"

"Whatever takes your fancy. I'd go with shredding it, but I don't know, have some fun with it first if you want. Make a paper aeroplane, play some hangman...go wild."

"Cal, you never take things seriously anymore!" cried Gillian.

"Alright, alright, Jesus love," he said, standing up rapidly and looking alarmed. "What the hell is wrong with you this morning? It's not even twelve and you've already tried to eat me twice."

"You know what's bothering me," she said, breathing in deeply and trying to maintain her cool. Cal was truly the most infuriating person she knew.

"Well just because your ex husband is buggering off down under, doesn't mean you have to get at everyone else," he retaliated. "You've been divorced a year now love, get over it."

"I...am going to go and find Loker," Ria said quickly. Gillian was staring daggers at Cal, looking as though she might breathe fire at any moment, and Cal wasn't backing down. "See you guys in a bit."

She hurried out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her, and breathed a sigh of relief. Lately it seemed every time Gillian and Cal were in the same room together, they had a blow up, and the atmosphere became unbearable.

No, it was best for Torres to get out of there. She was going to find Eli, make him read the threat, and get his opinion on it. Despite Cal's words, she couldn't shake off the feeling that this meant something bad, and she was determined to figure it out. Her other work could wait.

Back in Cal's office, Gillian was about to erupt.

"How dare you say that?" she asked, her voice shaking with anger. "How dare you Cal? You know how hard this has been for me, and especially after our conversation this morning."

"Look darling, your ex husband is moving away, and you need to accept that. Closure. End of. Deal with it and move on."

"I'm not staying to listen to this," she said, turning around and shaking her head. "I'll be in my office for the rest of the day."

"I'm right," Cal called as she walked out of the room. "Trust me. You keep thinking about Alec all the time, and it'll come back to haunt you."

~.^.~

"So you don't think it's a threat either?"

"Honestly...no."

Torres looked at Eli Loker incredulously. She knew Gillian was on side in this, and she had hoped that if her other colleague supported the idea too, they could convince Cal he was wrong, and that he should look into it, but apparently Eli wasn't going to be much help.

"Men have problems! They can't see what is straight in front of them, literally written on the page."

"Ria, rest assured, I can read the paper," Loker smirked. "But I just don't think it's a threat. It sounds like someone trying to get attention, or pulling a prank. I think you'll find women are the ones with problems - they get too paranoid and worked up over stuff."

"We do not," she said indignantly.

"Did I, or did I not, hear Foster walking out of Lightman's office earlier, muttering under her breath and walking quickly? She only does that when they've had an argument, which is pretty much every day at the moment. Now I know that Cal is a pain at times, but you can't tell me Gillian isn't over reacting a bit."

"Dude, you didn't see them in the room together," Ria said.

Immediately she sat down opposite Loker, folding her hands on his desk. She'd barged in on him while he was having a coffee break, so she felt no remorse for continuing her interruption now, especially when there was gossip to be shared.

The threat was forgotten for the time being, replaced by Ria and Loker's constant thirst for interesting information on their two bosses; despite constantly being at each other's throats, this all got put aside when Torres had juicy details for Loker's ears.

"...and so he just told her to get over it! Just like that, in typical Lightman style. No beating around the bush, he just said it."

"What did she do then?"

"Looked like she was going to explode," Ria said breathlessly. "It was insane. That was when I decided to get out of there, because I figured when things finally went mental, I didn't want to stick around for the aftermath..."

Loker smiled, letting Ria's voice wash over him; occasionally he nodded and made a murmur of agreement, but it was easier just to let her talk like this without interrupting. If it was something interesting, she could rattle off a story without breath for ten minutes. Eli didn't mind; it amused him, and when he switched off, he could just watch Ria.

Watching her was interesting; her eyes got wider when she was eager, and her hands moved wildly, exaggerating the action and making it entertaining. Sometimes she laughed, and her face split into a perfect smile, straight white teeth framed by pretty lips; on rare moments, she threw her head back with amusement, and her glossy hair shook around her, settling around her face.

Loker internally rolled his eyes at himself. What was he writing, a romantic novel? He couldn't even work out his feelings for Torres; he knew he was attracted to her, but what guy wouldn't be? He would consider taking her out to dinner, but she could be so prickly, and her sarcasm was cutting.

Torres was a conundrum for Loker, and she invaded his brain more frequently than he would have liked. Often he found his thoughts wandering away from what someone way saying in favour of watching Ria work. He knew the feelings weren't reciprocated though, so in reality, these feelings for her were pointless and stupid. She wasn't the type of girl to go for curly haired, awkward men like him; no, Loker was better off just staying single for the time being.

"Loker?"

He jumped, and snapped back into the present. Torres was looking at him curiously, waiting for his answer to a question he hadn't heard.

"Sorry, what?"

"Do you think if Cal and Gillian had a big enough argument, they could shut down the company?"

"What? No," he said, shaking his head. "Those two argue all the time. Surely you know that by now? You've been here over a year now."

"Yeah, but I've never seen them like that. It's crazy."

"Trust me, over the years, they've had bigger bust ups than this. It'll blow over soon."

"If you say so."

"I do. And now, I hate to be rude, but I have a dentist appointment," he said, reluctantly getting up from his chair to pack his files away for the day.

"You are one cool kid Loker," Torres laughed, also standing up. "Okay, I'm going to give this back to Heidi, and then Cal's given me free reign of his equipment!"

"In which case, right back at you Torres - you are matching me in the cool stakes."

"Make sure the dentist gives you your sticker," she teased as she left the room.

"Will do," he called back, smiling in spite of himself.

Ria was confusing alright.

~.^.~

Gillian Foster was sat in her office desperately fighting tears. She never cried, especially not at work, and especially not because of Cal Lightman.

Even if Cal was being particularly harsh.

Gillian knew that perhaps she was over reacting to Alec's phone call to tell her that he was moving, but with it being around the one year mark since their divorce had been finalised, it was poor timing, and her emotions were all over the place.

She knew she didn't love Alec anymore, and yet it still felt strange for him to be moving. Rather than being upset that he was leaving, it was more being upset because things were changing, and the past was being left behind. She knew, deep down, that this was a good thing, and Cal clearly agreed, but it still felt strange.

Lightman's comments were unfair though - moving on from Alec wasn't the issue. She had already moved on, she'd stopped loving him before their marriage was even over. It was just the change of time, and Gillian didn't adjust to change very well.

She looked up, over to where she knew a photo of her and Alec was still lurking behind another, larger frame on top of a filing cabinet. That photo had been in her office since she began working at the Lightman Group, and when she and Alec had split, she couldn't bear to throw it away.

With an angry huff, she stood up and walked quickly over to the photo frame, pulling it from its hiding place and throwing it to the floor, yelling as she did so.

Cal was wrong. She could move on no problem, she could get over it, and she could definitely stop thinking about Alec.

As quickly as her fit of anger had appeared, it went again. Slowly, Gillian knelt down next to the frame and picked it up, slicing her fingers on the sharp, jagged glass that still remained attached to the edge of the frame. Blood trickled down her hand, but she ignored it, and as she removed the photo from the frame, the tears finally leaked out.

"I know, I know," Cal said soothingly as he gently helped her up from the floor. "Shh."

For the third time that day, Gillian let herself fall into Cal's arms, but this time she sobbed against him as if there was no tomorrow. Somehow, he always knew when to come, and this had been no exception; the moment he'd heard the smashing of glass, he'd known she needed help, and he was right. Opening the door quietly, he'd seen Gillian on the floor next to the photo frame, and it didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

As her tears subsided into hiccups, Cal rubbed her shoulder and stepped back.

"I'm sorry," he said. "That one really was on me."

"Yeah, it was," she said sternly. "But you were right."

"Always am love, always am. So what are you going to do with that photo?"

Gillian looked at it, and resolved herself. Then she took a deep breath and ripped it straight in two, handing the pieces to Cal.

"There. You can go shred it...or if you prefer, you could make a paper aeroplane out of it, or play hangman if you want. Go wild."

He smiled at her and she smirked back, despite her red, puffy eyes.

"That's my girl. Come on, let's get your fingers cleaned up; I don't want Foster blood ruining my floors."

He touched her elbow gently, leading her towards his office and closing the door to hers behind him.

"You know love, you're going to have to stop having emotional breakdowns on me. Three in one day is pushing my limits..."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Just a quick word; I love reviews like Loker loves Torres, but when I get them, I love replying to them as well! At the moment, fanfiction is being silly, and won't let you reply to reviews the usual way, directly from email, so I'm having to respond via PMs. If you have them disabled, I have no way of replying to them! If you'd appreciate a review reply, please enable them for a little while after you post a review, just so I can show my love! Cheers.  
><strong>


	3. Torres

**A/N: Every response to this story completely blows me away. I'm having such a fun time writing it, and I'm loving what people think of it! Writing this has successfully cured my writer's block, and I look forward to seeing what everyone thinks of this chapter, when the action kicks up a notch. Just so you know, I don't normally add chapters this rapidly; revel in these three days, because the next chapter might not be out until next week - apologies, I know things are starting to happen now! If you review, I'll send you a sneak preview of the next chapter, in order to tide you along.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><span>3. Torres<span>

"So let me get this straight. He called you again, to tell you something he'd already told you."

"Yes," said Gillian slowly, wishing Cal would speak more clearly at times. "Yes, that's right."

"If you ask me, your ex husband is a nut job," said Cal, shrugging. "Just ignore it Foster."

"But do you think he's trying to tell me something? By calling me twice, telling me that he was moving twice?"

"You want to know what I think?" said Cal.

"I suppose," she reluctantly, realising what doors this could open.

"I think that you're over analysing the situation. Now I know you can't help it, you're Foster and you're a woman, it's a double whammy, but you can't keep thinking about this love. It puts a downer on our little coffee mornings."

"Cal, you say coffee mornings as if they're arranged, not just you collaring me in the corridor when I make the mistake of leaving my office."

"Keeps it fun though doesn't it?" he grinned, and she couldn't help but smile back. "Besides, they're not coffee mornings either, because you're the only one drinking that vile stuff around here."

"So you were wrong on both counts," she said smugly. It was nice to put Cal in his place sometimes.

"Happens to the best of us love," he sighed. "Now are we actually going to chat about anything interesting today, or are you going to go on another rant about Alec? Because I love you to bits Foster, and I don't mind sitting here listening to you go crazy, but I don't appreciate the emotional breakdowns that tend to accompany your outbursts."

"I'm sorry for yesterday," she said quietly, blushing as she remembered how badly she'd handled herself.

"Nothing to apologise for," Cal said cheerily, giving her hand a squeeze. "That's what I'm here for; I get you angry, make you yell at me and then give you a hug to sort it all out afterwards. It's not a problem. I just don't really like seeing you cry darling."

"Well then, I'm sorry for that."

"Right well, yeah you probably should be. Doesn't half scare me. So, are we going to sit here and talk about Alec or something else? Or are you going to bury yourself in some paperwork?"

"I don't have much paperwork to do today," Gillian said, smiling at him.

"Nice answer," Cal smirked, settling in on his couch. "So what do you want to talk about love? I feel like we never get catch up time anymore."

Gillian kicked her shoes off and curled her legs up on the sofa. It didn't feel like they were sat on the couch in Cal's office; it felt like they were sat at Cal's house, and any moment now, Emily would burst in with a homework question or to moan at her dad for something.

The door suddenly crashed open at the far end of the office before Gillian could answer.

Ria was stood there looking pale, her anxious eyes searching for them.

"Well, she's not Em, but it looks interesting anyway," Cal muttered, getting up from the couch. Gillian flinched; it was like Cal could read her mind at times.

Quickly she slipped back into her shoes and followed Cal to the other end of his office. He was stood a metre away from Torres, surveying her curiously, but Gillian walked straight over and put her arm around the girl. She seemed scared, and Gillian was much better suited to comforting someone than Cal was.

"What's up darling? Loker not perform in bed last night?" Cal asked.

"Cal," Gillian hissed, but Ria just ignored him.

"Someone's trashed my office," she whispered, looking at Gillian like a lost child. "Like, properly trashed it."

Gillian could tell this had shaken her up, and kept a firm arm around her shoulders as Cal briskly led the way out of his office and up the corridor to where Torres worked.

"Did you see anyone around?" Cal asked as he entered the office.

"No, no one."

Gillian couldn't help but gasp a little at the state of the room. Torres hadn't been lying; it was destroyed. Her filing cabinets had been knocked over, one crashing into the other to leave a huge dent, her desk chair had been ripped apart, and there was paper absolutely everywhere.

All of her carefully constructed and organised notes were strewn across the floor. Gillian could sense she was nearly in tears; all her hard work gone to waste.

"So it was like this when you got in this morning?" Cal asked, turning to look at her. Foster was pleased to see a hint of concern in his eyes.

"Yeah. I literally came in and was hit with the wreckage. I mean, I looked around a little bit, but there was nothing, so I came to find you, because..."

She trailed off, looking unsure of herself.

"Because what? You thought I could fix it?" asked Cal.

"Because she thought it was related to yesterday's threat," Gillian said softly. "And I agree."

"Bloody hell, are we still on about that? I thought you'd already used it to make an origami bird or something."

"Cal, something isn't right here," Gillian said, looking at him. "You can't deny the possibility that the two might be linked."

"Yeah, but it's highly possible some idiot sent that fax through yesterday, and then..."

"And then what? Another idiot came and trashed Ria's office, just for fun?" Gillian asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know," Cal said, raising his hands in surrender. "It's just, usually when people threaten someone, if they attack again, they leave another warning. This just looks like someone wanted something from Torres."

"Nothing's gone," Ria said quickly, slipping out from underneath Gillian's protective arm and looking at Cal defiantly. "No one has taken anything."

"Now how the hell would you know that when your office looks like this?" asked Cal.

"I just know. I take all of my valuables home with me; all that's left are files."

"Yeah, and no one ever wants files," Cal said, rolling his eyes. "Who the hell would want to read dirt on infamous criminals and mobs, find out their weaknesses and discover who was involved with what scandal and when?"

Ria went to say something, then closed her mouth, glaring at Cal.

"Exactly love. If you ask me, someone wanted some paper, and they might have gotten it, they might not. Once you're done organising everything again, if anything's missing, I'll investigate for you."

"Why are you not taking this seriously?" Gillian asked coolly.

"Because I just don't think they're related love. Don't get angry with me again, I'm not looking for another argument."

"But why is it that we just ignore this, simply because you don't think it links with anything?"

"Alright, I'll take that. Torres, where's Loker?"

"Umm, I don't know, he hasn't been in yet this morning."

"Right, you two stay here."

Gillian and Ria looked at each other as Cal left the room. He wandered back up the corridor and sidled up to his receptionist.

"Heidi love, anyone been seen around this morning or late last night? Anyone that's not meant to be here, obviously."

"I haven't seen anyone," she answered. "But I'll take a look at the surveillance cameras for you, see if anyone was lurking about."

"Cheers, much appreciated. You haven't seen Loker have you?"

"He's just outside," she smiled, pointing through the window.

Sure enough, Eli was there, wrestling with his bike chain as he tried to attach his bike to the metal posts outside. Cal rolled his eyes; he acted like an eleven year old at times.

Striding out through the doors, Cal yelled his name, and Loker looked up, confused.

"Would it be possible for you to stop messing about with that piece of junk and get in here within the next five minutes?" Cal called.

"I'm not late am I?" he shouted back, looking worried.

"No, but your lover's been attacked, and we need your opinion."

Immediately Loker dropped his chain and sprinted over to Cal, his bike helmet still on his head, undone with the straps dangling either side.

"Ria? What's wrong? Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

"Funny how I say lover, and you think Ria. Just throwing that out there," Cal smirked. "And yeah, it wasn't actually her that was attacked, it was her office. Didn't think that'd make you move as fast though."

"For god's sake Lightman," Eli said angrily, as Cal started walking off again, whistling in amusement. "I was worried."

"Yeah I know. Funny isn't it? Heidi love," he called, as they passed her desk again. "Would you be a star and go and fix Loker's bike to the post? He was having a bit of trouble earlier, and god forbid that scrap metal should get stolen."

"No problem," she laughed, walking away to the door.

Cal could hear Loker muttering under his breath, and he had no doubt who the insults he was chanting were aimed at.

"Ah, we were wondering where you were," Gillian said, as the two of them traipsed back into the room.

"Loker's mum didn't have enough time to tie his laces this morning, so he had to do them," Cal said, rolling his eyes.

"The bike chain wouldn't lock," Eli huffed, then realised he still had his bike helmet on and swiftly removed it.

Despite the situation, Torres smiled at him. She was used to his childish antics.

"He came running pretty sharply when I told him you were in trouble though love," Cal said, winking at Ria. "There's hope yet."

They both blushed and looked at the floor, while Gillian tutted at her business partner.

"No, yeah, down to business. Loker, look around you."

Eli surveyed the wreck that was Torres' office, raising his eyebrows as he saw the extent of the damage.

"First thoughts?"

"Umm, has anything been taken?" Eli asked.

"Thank you," Cal said, smiling. "See, now I'm not the only one. Loker thinks it's a break in too."

"What do you think?" Loker asked Ria, looking concerned for his colleague.

"We thought it was related to the threat yesterday," said Torres, annoyed that Loker didn't share that view.

"Well, I guess it could be," Eli said. "But I doubt it to be honest."

"I'm glad this was cleared up," Cal said happily.

"It's hardly cleared up," Torres snapped. "My office is still a tip."

"I'll help you tidy it," Loker offered.

"Nice work," Cal said, elbowing Eli in the ribs. "Foster and I will leave you two to it then. Give me a yell if you need something, or if you find anything's missing."

"Will do," Loker said, crossing over to Ria and giving her a hug.

Gillian and Cal took this as their cue to leave, and closed the door behind them.

"Sometimes what you think is funny, isn't," Gillian said seriously once they were outside.

"It's only a bit of harmless fun," Cal shrugged.

"If that had been Emily, you wouldn't have been mocking her then."

"Em is my teenage daughter, not my adult employee," Cal said, raising an eyebrow. "They're totally different."

"Ria was scared today," Gillian said. "And you just ignored it."

"Only because she thinks it's another threat. She wouldn't be half as scared if it'd been a simple break in."

"And what if it is a threat?"

"Foster," Cal said sharply. "Love, I really don't think it's a threat."

"You can be extremely naive at times," she said, shaking her head, and then turned on her heel, headed for her own office.

For once, Cal was wise, and decided to let her simmer down before he went on the defensive. At a loose end, he decided to go and see if Heidi had uncovered any unwanted people on footage from the cameras.

She hadn't, it turned out, which made Cal even more sure that it was a criminal break in, trying to get information on a rival or their own gang. Criminals were clever, they knew to avoid cameras; regular idiots weren't.

Cal decided to go and share this information with Foster; hopefully he could calm her down and bring her round to his way of thinking. When he got to her office though, he could hear her talking to someone.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

He nudged the door open to find her closing her cell phone and looking at it in an odd way; there was longing and annoyance in her expression, a strange combination.

"Alright?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Anything on the cameras?"

"Nope, not a sausage. Who was on the phone?"

She'd been quick to ask Cal a question, and he wanted to know why she'd avoided the topic of her phone call.

"Just an acquaintance. So you know, I won't be in tomorrow now, but I'll be back the day after."

"Where are you off to tomorrow?" asked Cal. His tone wasn't joking like it usually would have been; he knew there was something she was keeping from him.

"I'm helping someone sort some stuff out," she answered vaguely, breaking eye contact and fiddling with a piece of skin that had been torn by the glass yesterday. That was all it took for Cal to realise.

"You're helping Alec pack."

It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I am," Gillian said, raising her chin a bit.

"Okay."

"Don't try and talk me out of it Cal," she warned.

"I had no intentions of doing so," he said truthfully. "Just...be careful love."

"I will be," she said, smiling a little sadly.

"See you in a few days," Cal muttered, leaving the room to mull over his thoughts.

Gillian put her head in her hands. Why had this seemed like a good idea until Cal had found out?


	4. Loker

**A/N: Hello lovely readers. I know I said this would probably go up next week, but I got all stressed out and finished this to calm me down! The action steps up a bit here, you'll be pleased to know. So, I have an exam in a couple hours, and you know what would be great? To have a load of emails waiting for me when I get back, in order to cheer me up! I wouldn't usually ask outright for some reviews, but right now, a bit of love would be much appreciated! Thanks!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><span>4. Loker<span>

Gillian slowed down as she pulled into her old street, still unsure over whether this was the right thing. Like old times, she stopped in her usual spot, straight opposite the little house. Taking a deep breath, she tried to mentally prepare herself. It was just packing boxes. No big deal.

She opened the door and walked over to where Alec was stood near the porch.

"Wow I've missed you," he said, pulling Gillian into a fierce hug as she walked up the little path to her old front door.

She pushed him away politely, smoothing down her jumper nervously. She was still half regretting coming to help Alec, and her reasoning - that seeing him one last time would allow her closure, as Cal had suggested - wasn't helped when he hugged her like that.

"It's nice to see you Alec," she said, nodding her head at him.

He stepped back and frowned at her.

"What's wrong Foster?" he asked, looking confused.

"It's Gillian, actually," she corrected him. She didn't know why, but for some reason, him calling her Foster bugged her.

"I always used to call you Foster," he said, raising his eyebrows. "And you'd call me Foster too."

"Yes but that was when we were married Alec," she said sharply. "And we're not anymore."

"So no one calls you Foster anymore? You went back to your maiden name?"

"No, I stayed as Foster; it made things easier, everyone knows me as Gillian Foster. But no, no one calls me Foster. I am Gillian to my friends, and Doctor Foster to others."

"What about your idiot of a business partner? He always used to call you Foster too. Like he wanted to be me, like he wanted to be a part of our joke."

"Don't talk about Cal like that," she snapped, wishing she was with Cal right now and not Alec.

"The truth hurts at times," Alec smirked. "Some more than others; it's not my fault you went into partnership with a man incapable of creating his own jokes."

"Alec, Cal never wanted to be a part of this supposed joke between us. He just refers to people by their surnames."

"And you don't think that's weird?" he laughed.

"That's…Cal," she shrugged.

"Point proven," he chuckled.

Gillian looked at her ex husband, truly looked at him.

He'd changed. For the better, when you looked at it one way. He was leaner, fitter than he had been a year ago, and she could tell by his healthy appearance that he was pretty much clean now.

She looked past him, at the house they'd shared together for years. It hadn't changed a bit, unlike Alec. The same curtains in the windows, the same plants in the window boxes, the same winding path up to the front door bordered by perfectly green grass.

A few years ago, this had been her dream. Her and Alec, living together in this little patch of heaven, the house she'd been wishing for since she was seven.

Now though, now she saw that things really had changed; Cal was right, she had to move on. And in a way, coming today helped with that. Gillian could see, once and for all, that this wasn't she wanted anymore. What she wanted right now was her stylish apartment, her wonderful colleagues, and Cal.

Alec wasn't a factor in her life anymore; she had no more ties to him. He'd changed, and though it was for the better in that one way, in another, it was for the worse, and that was the only way in which Gillian could see him now.

"Alec, I shouldn't have come here today. I'm sorry, but I'm going to head back to the office. I'm sure your friends can come and help you pack, and I wish you the best of luck for the move. Goodbye."

She turned to walk back to her car, still parked alongside the sidewalk as it always had done, but Alec grabbed her arm, twisting it so she had to face him again.

"Don't go," he said, looking frantic.

"Ouch, Alec, let go," said Gillian. Alec's grip was tight and painful.

"Foster, we can still make this work," he said desperately. "Give it a go."

"Do not call me Foster," she said angrily, wrenching her arm from his grasp. "My god, I shouldn't have spent even five minutes here. How the hell did I last five years? Goodbye Alec."

She strutted away from him, feeling triumphant, while he stood there, staring as she got into her car and sped off without a second glance.

~.^.~

"I thought you were helping what's his name to move house today," Cal said as Gillian walked into the room.

He hadn't even looked up at her, he was shuffling some papers around on his desk, but only Foster ever entered his office without saying anything first.

"His name is Alec, Cal," she said, rolling her eyes. "But for your information, I walked away from him. We had an argument, and I realized that I was better off without him."

"Good for you love," he said, still with his back to her. "How did he take that?"

"Not well…do you have any ice?"

At this he whirled round to face her, documents forgotten in the event she was injured in some way.

"What did he do?" Cal asked sharply, walking over to where she'd flopped down on his couch. For just a second he admired her legs in her tight, straight legged denim jeans, and the way her pale pink jumper hugged her body, and then righted his thoughts. "Was it serious?"

"He just grabbed me as I tried to leave," she explained, rolling up her sleeve to show Cal the angry red handprint that remained.

"Want me to go and sort him out?" Cal asked, sounding menacing even to Gillian.

"No, no," she said hurriedly. "That's it. I'm done with Alec, you're done with Alec. I don't want to think about him anymore. I want nothing more to do with him."

Cal stepped back and surveyed her for a minute, then grinned.

"I'm proud of you love," he said, ruffling her hair before going to his freezer and pulling out an ice pack. It was times like this that Cal remembered why he'd invested in so much for his office; it was a home from home.

"Thanks," Gillian said, reaching for the ice.

"You want this thing attached to your arm for the day?" Cal asked, shaking his head and wrapping it up in a cloth. "Jesus."

"Apologies," she laughed, taking it from him and cringing as she pressed it against her arm. "Wow, this is freezing."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the most intelligent woman I know," Cal muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Shh," said Gillian playfully, smiling at him.

"So what were you arguing about?" he asked, sinking onto the couch next to her.

"He called me Foster," she said, frowning. She usually did this when she was lying, but Cal could see no trace of a lie in her face, so he decided there was just something she wasn't telling him.

And of course, there was; Gillian had no intentions of telling Cal that Alec had insulted his intelligence.

"I call you Foster," Cal said, confused. "Want me to stop?"

"No," she said. "You're you, Alec is Alec."

"And what's that meant to mean?"

"Just that…you're different."

"In a good way or a bad way?"

"A good way," she said firmly, nodding. "Definitely a good way."

"That's alright then," he grinned. "How's your arm?"

"I think I might survive," she smiled. "Hey, have you had any news on Ria's office yet? Anything else happened today?"

"Nope, and nope. It's been a pretty boring day in all honesty. Much more fun when you're around love."

"Cal! Gillian!" someone screamed from outside.

The two business partners looked at each other in alarm and then raced outside, Gillian's ice pack lying forgotten on the couch.

"Never ever tempt fate," muttered Cal as they flew to the end of his office.

"Easier said than done," replied Gillian.

"What? What's happened?" Cal yelled as they skidded into the reception area.

"It's Loker," Ria gulped, looking terrified for the second time in two days. "Someone's attacked him."

Cal wandered round the desk, where Heidi was trying to coax Eli into getting up so she could move him to the couch in the waiting room. Gillian dialled for an ambulance while Ria paced nervously.

"Alright mate, can you hear me?" Cal asked, kneeling down next to his employee and speaking in an unusually soft tone.

"Mmm," Loker mumbled, his eyes flickering open.

"Good, reckon you can stand for me mate?" Cal said encouragingly.

He made a noise that sounded vaguely positive, so Cal extended an arm which Eli gripped on to tightly.

"Ria, how did you find him?" Gillian asked, holding the phone away so the operator couldn't hear.

"He just stumbled in and collapsed on the floor," she said, her voice shaky. She thought her office had been bad yesterday; that was nothing compared to Eli.

"Okay," Gillian said, squeezing her hand and going back to the phone.

Meanwhile, Cal had managed to get Eli almost standing, though he was leaning on him very heavily, with Cal nearly buckling from the weight.

"Alright mate, let's get you to the sofa," Cal said, grunting a little as he dragged Loker over to the couch.

Once he was there, he carefully lowered him down to the seat, sitting next to him so he could prop up his lolling head.

Ria walked over and bent down in front of him, so she was near his eye level.

She had to admit, he looked bad. A few contusions over his arms, a black eye that was swelling at an enormous rate, a swollen, bloody lip underneath his puffy cheek; that was just from first appearance as well. She dreaded to think what he looked like underneath his shirt and pants.

"Know who did this?" Cal asked, nudging him lightly to keep his eyes open.

"No," Eli whispered, clearly in great pain.

"They take anything?"

He only managed a noise this time, but it sounded like a no.

"The ambulance is on its way," Gillian said reassuringly. "Heidi, if you close for the day, so we don't get any phone calls or emails demanding our attention, Cal can go with Eli and I'll take Ria home."

"I'm not going home," she said stubbornly. "I'm staying with Loker."

Gillian looked at Cal desperately, but he shrugged.

"She can do what she wants love," he pointed out. "If you were going to send her home anyway..."

"Then it's decided," said Ria quickly. "Lightman and I will go with Eli."

Before Gillian could argue further, the sound of sirens filled the air.

"Bloody hell, that was fast," said Cal, amazed.

"The hospital is two minutes away," Gillian informed him. "I'm going to call Ben so he can draw up a report on this."

"Okay love," said Cal. "I'll come back later; if you're not here, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay," she smiled.

"Foster...watch out. I don't want anyone attacking you."

"I can take care of myself," she reassured him, rubbing his arm.

He caught her hand as it lingered near the bottom of his arm, and held it tightly for a moment.

"Seriously darling. Stay safe."

"I will," she sighed.

The EMTs arrived then, so Cal's attention was taken up by them, leaving Gillian free to wander back to her office, but a sense of unease didn't leave either of them; Gillian wasn't thrilled at the idea of an attacker being near, and Cal hated the fact she was alone and in possible danger.

"Foster," he called suddenly, a growing feeling that something wasn't right inside of him.

She turned round to look at him quizzically, but he didn't have anything else to say. He simply nodded at her and then followed the others out of the door, Eli on a stretcher and Ria holding his hand. Gillian understood - she smiled back.


	5. Foster

**A/N: There is a whopper of an author's note waiting for you down there, so this one will be short and sweet; thanks for all the reponses, keep 'em coming in, especially your wonderful reviews! For those of you who want more action, hold tight for one more chapter!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><span>5. Foster<span>

It was nearing one o'clock in the morning, and Gillian was exhausted.

She'd been at the hospital and then the police station with Eli, Ria and Ben all day, and not only was she physically tired, she was emotionally drained.

Still, even in the early hours of the morning, she'd asked Ben to drop her back off here, at the Lightman Group building. She knew Cal would still be here, waiting for her, and quite frankly, she needed some reassurance from her best friend right now.

Reynolds didn't need to know this though; she'd told him that her car was here, and she'd need to drive it home or she wouldn't have a ride to work the next day.

"Cal?" she called out as she pushed open the heavy doors.

During the day, this was the only place Gillian liked to be; it was welcoming, it was work, and it was where she felt happy and safe. Now, it was intimidating, and in all honesty, terrifying.

She heard footsteps from somewhere and gasped, but relaxed when the lights switched on and she saw Cal at the other end of the corridor.

"Alright love," he said, sounding just as tired as she did.

Dropping her bags by the door, Gillian wandered over to Cal's open arms. He knew his best friend, and he knew when she needed some comfort. Gillian collapsed into them, relieved; she wasn't upset, but she was scared, and here in Cal's arms, she felt safe.

"What's happening then?" he asked after a while, the two of them still just stood in the entrance where everything had kicked off this morning. "How's Loker?"

"He's fine," she said, stepping back a little and giving Cal a small smile. "The doctors cleaned him up a little bit, sorted out a few stitches that needed doing, and then discharged him. They said he should rest at home for a few days, but they said painkillers would be all he really needs."

"Good," said Cal, thankful that his employee was alright. "Where have you been all day then?"

"Reynolds took him down to the police station to sort out statements and everything. Eli said I could go, but Ria looked a bit pale still, so I stayed with her until they were done. Reynolds dropped them both off at home on the way here."

"Why didn't you go home?" Cal asked.

"I knew you'd be here," she said simply. "I didn't want you to wait all night. Besides, my car's here."

"Fair enough," he said, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Let's get going then."

They walked back to the doors, Gillian pausing to pick up her bags, and then wandered out together into the dark night.

Gillian waited as Cal explained the situation to the guard they had, and apologised for making him wait so long to lock the building up. Once that was done, Cal walked Gillian to her car. They both knew he was still worried about her safety after Eli's attack.

"Will you be okay at home tonight?" Cal asked.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him, giving him a warm smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow then love. Take care."

"You too Cal. Thanks for waiting for me. I know it's late."

"Any time darling."

She smiled and then opened the door to her car, sliding in. Cal shut the door behind her, and then wandered over to his car. Both of them could sense the tension; neither of them wanted to talk about it. The question lingered in the air though - who had attacked Loker? They would talk about it in the morning.

~.^.~

"You still don't think it's all linked do you?" Foster asked, sounding irritated.

"No," said Cal, looking at her apologetically. He hated disagreeing with her, but he just couldn't see the connection between it all yet.

They were stood in his office, either side of his desk. Both were sporting shadows under their eyes, a sign of a restless night's sleep. Still, they'd both arrived at work normal time this morning, closely followed by Torres, who still looked anxious.

She'd simply informed them that Loker was staying at home for a few days, but would be back soon. Gillian had an idea that they'd spent quite a large portion of the night on the phone to each other, because Ria had the same dark shadows Cal and herself were wearing.

After that brief exchange though, Torres had gone into her office and closed the door, telling them that she needed her privacy. Gillian knew she'd be tidying up the paperwork, but understood her fear still, and the need to be alone to gather her thoughts.

"Come and find me if you need anything," Gillian had said kindly before Ria had shut the door.

"Thanks Gillian," she'd said, managing a half smile.

Soon after, Gillian and Cal had both retreated into his office, where they were now, engaged once again in a row.

"How can you not see that there's a common theme?" cried Gillian.

"What is this common theme?" asked Cal, frowning. "I honestly don't see one."

"We got the threat, Ria's office got trashed, Loker got attacked. Someone is threatening the group, and you're too pigheaded to realise Cal. This isn't some sort of sanctuary that could never come to any harm. We're only human Lightman, and getting hurt isn't out of the question."

He flinched; just as he never called Gillian by her first name, she never addressed him by his surname. It was a sure sign of her anger right now.

"Those are independent events though," Cal said defensively. "Just look at it this way for a moment Foster. We got what seemed to just be a prank. Ria's office had no link to the message, and I already suggested it was a break in to get some information. Loker's attack had no link to the message either; it could have just been an ordinary mugging. I know you're scared Foster, and you're looking for a way to piece together this string of bad luck, but usually someone posing a threat will ensure their message gets across every time they strike."

"So you're going to chalk Loker's attack down as a coincidence then?" she asked, her voice cool and deadly.

"For now, yes. Unless you can come up with some strong evidence that links the three, I'm not entertaining the idea of this all being related to the threat."

"Your stubbornness is going to land you in so much trouble one day," she said in a dangerous voice. "And consider this; your three employees all disagree with you on this count. Who's going to be around to bail you out of that trouble Cal? We might not believe you actually need help, like you don't believe us on this."

Before he could reply, she stormed out of his office, her walk brisk and angry.

Cal was stunned. Had Foster really just said she wouldn't be there to help him should he need it in the future?

He sank down into his office chair, resting his head in his hands. He was tired, he was confused, and he had a feeling he'd lost his best friend. Gillian wasn't going to come back in this time and apologise; she thought that she was right, Cal knew that he was. There was conflict, and neither of them was going to back down until the other was proved wrong.

Cal wished he could just agree with Gillian, but right now, it just wasn't clicking into place for him. Though Cal often went on his hunches, in this situation, he needed some solid proof before he started to go through with any investigation. He didn't care that his employees disagreed with him at the moment - this wasn't the first time they'd come to blows over a case, and he had a feeling it probably wouldn't be the last.

Knowing she needed time to cool down again, Cal embarked on the mountain of paperwork he had to sort out. It had been his intention to tackle this at the start of this rest week, but with all the drama that had unfolded, it had been the last thing he'd felt like doing.

Still, it was never going to do itself, and now was as good a time as any. He strongly suspected Foster was probably doing some paperwork right now too, which was good; invariably she calmed down once settling down to a task.

Gillian wasn't doing paperwork though; she was sat at her desk, seething with anger. The cheerful yellow walls and cream sofa usually relaxed her, but this time they did nothing. She was furious at Cal for not believing her on this. Often they'd disagree on a case, but this wasn't just a case; this was their employees being targeted, and Cal just didn't seem to care.

She knew that he cared about their wellbeing, but she also knew that he wouldn't begin to believe anything unless something happened to him. As much as she loved him, he had his flaws; one of them was the belief he held that he was invincible.

Gillian knew that the moment he was struck by this threat, he'd believe it, but at the same time, that was like wishing for Cal to be attacked by something, and just the thought of it filled with her horror.

Eli, Ria, Ben and herself had all been discussing the events yesterday, and the four of them had noticed the pattern - the threats were getting more serious. What started out as just a piece of paper had moved on to a trashed office and someone getting physically hurt; Gillian was afraid to think of what might happen next, and who it might be aimed at.

Loker was convinced that this was a threat now, changing his view after his own attack, which was what Gillian was convinced Cal would do. Ben was half on their side; he had concluded that there was the possibility of a threat, but like Cal, without further evidence, he wasn't going to treat it as a real case yet.

Gillian sighed angrily. What did Cal want - an attempt on his life before he realised something was wrong?

She closed her eyes, immediately regretting the thought. She was angry at him, but wishing something like that on anyone was terrible; the thought of it happening to Cal was almost painful.

Her phone rang, disrupting her thoughts, and she looked down to see who it was.

Alec.

She rolled her eyes. A discussion with her ex husband over what had transpired yesterday wasn't quite what she needed right now. She let it ring off, breathing a sigh of relief when the annoying tone stopped.

A few seconds later though, it commenced ringing again, and to her dismay, it was Alec once more. Annoyed this time, she pressed the red button, disconnecting the call. She knew within seconds it might ring again, so she stood up and chucked the little cell phone into one of her filing cabinets. It would muffle the sound, so it wasn't as annoying.

Sure enough, she heard the faint sound of her ringtone as soon as she'd flopped back down into her desk chair.

"Leave me alone Alec," she muttered under her breath, resting her head on her upturned palms, propped up by her elbows on the table.

Back in his office, Cal had lost all interest in his paperwork; his concentration had started wavering after the fourth sheet, and after working his way through the grand total of ten sheets of paper, all on separate cases, he'd admitted defeat and shoved the pile to one side.

He was so tempted to go and find Foster, go and apologise and see if they could work something out, but he knew it would be pointless; for starters, she was probably still furious with him, and for another thing, he knew neither of them would really budge from where they stood on this argument, so the idea of working something out was futile.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the building, jerking him out of his thoughts violently.

Without a second thought, Cal shot out of the room, getting to Gillian's office as fast as possible. He would recognise her voice anywhere and there was no mistaking that scream of terror.

Ria was faster though, and by the time Cal had reached Gillian's office, Torres had already wrapped a firm arm around Foster's folder, and was leading her out of the office.

"Foster?" Cal asked, uncertainty and fear in his voice as he drew closer.

She turned to glare at him, and he was alarmed to see cuts over her face and arms, blood trickling from each of them.

"Is this enough evidence for you Cal?" she said despairingly, shoving something into his hands before following after Torres.

He looked down at what she'd given him, and saw that he was holding a brick, with a note tied to it. He didn't even need to read it to know it would say exactly what that first email had.

"Foster, wait!" he called, but her and Ria had disappeared, and he was stood outside her office by himself, plagued with fear and guilt.

Slowly he edged his way into her office, and the guilt increased tenfold as he surveyed the wreckage. The brick had obviously been thrown through her window, as a huge hole had been left in it, with shards of glass all over her desk and floor.

It didn't take a genius to work out that some of the flying glass had obviously hit Gillian, causing her injuries.

Cal dug out his phone from his pocket and dialled Reynolds' number; he'd acknowledged that this threat was real just a fraction too late.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh hey. So, lovely readers...I am curious. I have become completely hooked on Lie To Me fanfiction, something I never expected to happen. I will admit it, I am a complete Twihard (please don't judge me) and never in a million years thought I would write anything other than Twilight fanfiction. In case there are any other Twilight fans out there by the way, I will be posting Twilight stories soon, be patient. The problem is, now I've entered the LTM fandom, I'm stuck here, and am already entertaining various ideas as to what my next story will be about, and this time it's going to be a full on story. So, to the point of this. I've been reading Twilight fanfiction for well over a year now, and have judged that readers prefer a story with say, twenty or so chapters, which are all six, seven thousand words in length, and get updated every other week or so. Is it the same here? Because from what I can gather, the trend seems to be shorter chapters, which are updated every other day! So what would you guys prefer for my next story; little chapters that get put up often, or long juicy chapters that could be delayed? Let me know. And now, after that mammoth author's note, you see why I put this at the bottom, so as not to bore you before reading this chapter! Thanks!**


	6. Cal

**A/N: Yeah, so from now on, new chapters will be slower to get out unfortunately, but I felt it should get interesting before I focused on some other stuff. And so the drama commences...**

* * *

><p><span>6. Cal<span>

Cal wasn't sure if it was possible to feel this much self hatred. He had to be pushing limits here.

It felt like he'd let everyone down; he'd let it get to the stage where two of his employees had been physically injured, and one of them had been Gillian. It made his heart clench and his stomach turn just thinking about it.

Guilt radiated through him every time he thought of her perfect face, scattered with little cuts, all bleeding.

Reynolds had promised he was on his way, but he couldn't say how long he'd be; there had been another case he'd had to deal with this afternoon, and it was high priority. This angered Cal, because in his world, Foster was his priority, but then he'd reminded himself that he had no one but himself to blame for this. He was the stubborn one; had he listened to his colleagues, this could have ended after the email.

Why did it have to take two physical attacks and an emotional one to make him realise that they were right?

Apparently Torres was thinking the same thing as she stormed into his office, looking furious.

"How's Foster?" Cal asked, standing up immediately and feeling a fresh wave of guilt.

"She'll survive," Ria snapped.

"Did she need to go to hospital or anything?"

"There were a few cuts, it wasn't a bloodbath," she said, rolling her eyes. "But she went home after she got cleaned up. I don't blame her. If I didn't have papers to sort out, I wouldn't be here either."

"Thanks, means a lot love," retorted Cal, sarcasm dripping off his every word.

"Don't take that tone with me Lightman!" she yelled, rounding on him. "You're lucky I'm here! You currently don't have a staff force, or if you do, it's just one man by himself, one man and his huge, untouchable ego."

"Alright, I'm sorry," he said, folding his arms defensively. "I didn't mean for it to get this far."

"No, but you did. You let my office get trashed, you let Eli get beaten up and you let Gillian get injured too. I hope to god you get some sort of punishment too," she snarled.

"Bloody hell, don't hold back," he cried.

"No, I won't," she told him. "Because do you know what hurts more than the fact you let this carry on?"

Here we go.

"What?" he sighed.

"The fact that when it was Loker and I, you didn't do a damned thing about it, but the second Foster gets hurt, you believe it instantly and start rounding up the FBI."

"It's not like that," he said despairingly. "Foster's attack had a link to the original threat, it was the connection we needed."

"No it's exactly like that Lightman," she said coolly. "You would drop everything for Gillian Foster, but just your employees? Who cares about them?"

"Torres, you know I care about you," Cal said firmly, glaring at her from behind his desk.

"Just not enough to investigate though, right?"

"There was more to it than that!"

"Well it didn't seem that way. I'm going - I just thought you should know Foster was still alive."

"Great, thanks, you delivered the message really concisely. Straight to the point."

"Go die Lightman," she said, narrowing her eyes at him and storming out.

"I am still your boss!" he yelled, but it was no use.

Cal groaned, feeling as if he'd aged thirty years in one night. So now, not only did he have someone after his group, his employees hated him and felt unloved.

Life was peachy.

He sank back down into his chair, resting his head in his hands again. It wouldn't surprise him if the next time he checked a mirror, his hair was grey.

It was terrible to know his employees hated him; Ria had made her feelings pretty clear by her threats, and he knew that Loker was probably with her all the way. They were like two peas in a pod, and especially over the last six months, their relationship had gone from strength to strength - they were all but mind readers now.

As for Gillian, the look of disgust on her face on the way out had made her feelings towards him very clear at this moment in time.

Still, he wanted to try and remedy that; if his work force was going to hate him, he could at least try and get his best friend back on side.

Hesitantly he picked up the phone and then punched in her number without even thinking about it. It rang for a stupidly long time, and he was just about to hang up when it connected.

"What do you want?"

Her voice was frosty, and clearly still angry. No greeting, no mention of his name. Nothing.

"Well, I wanted to check if you were alright darling," he said, feeling nervous for some reason.

"I got a brick thrown through my office window with a threat attached to it. How do you think I feel Cal?" she said wearily.

"Yeah alright, point taken," he said, rubbing his chin. "I am sorry."

"It's a little bit late for that."

"If there had been a clue sooner, I wouldn't have let it get this far."

"But you did." He cringed as her words echoed Ria's. "And it might go further Cal; you might be next in the firing line, but you can't even see that."

"Foster," he began, but she cut him off.

"No, save it for tonight. I'm not interested in what you have to say. Let me cool down and we'll discuss this another day."

She hung up before he could even say goodbye.

Cal let out a frustrated groan and crossed the room to his couch, sinking into it and closing his eyes.

"Oh I see how it is. Everyone around you is being targeted, but the high and mighty Cal Lightman has time to take a nap."

"What do you want Torres?" Cal asked without even opening his eyes.

"I'm getting out of this place. I've collected my papers and things; I'm probably going round to help Loker, so don't expect either of us to be back for a few days."

"Can't wait darling," he said, still with his eyes closed.

"My god I hate working for you at times," she muttered, before storming out of his office door.

Carefully Ria placed the stack of files she'd gathered on the passenger seat of her car, and set off to Loker's. He'd asked her to stay over for a few nights, and the underlying fear in his voice meant she couldn't refuse.

It wasn't like she was needed at the office; Loker had a few days off now, and her research with Cal's equipment could wait. Right now, her priority was organising files, and that could easily be done sat on the floor of Loker's lounge, a place she felt very much at home at nowadays.

As she drove off, her smile increased, at the prospect of both drawing closer to Eli, and leaving Lightman way behind.

Cal was actually still lying on his couch, clutching a cushion. He knew it was completely stupid; if he'd learnt anything from today's events, it was that doing nothing was the one thing you should never do.

He'd also learnt to always listen to his staff. Now his arrogance had landed him alone and with an attacker on the loose.

Speaking of which...

Heaving himself off the couch with a loud groan, Cal went back over to his phone and dialled Reynolds this time.

"Hey, it's me," he said after just one ring.

"Hey Lightman," said Ben, sounding a little frazzled. "I know you have a situation there right now, but we're just wrapping this operation up now and we'll be with you in a bit. It's just over run a little."

"Yeah, no problem mate, just get here as fast as," said Cal, disappointed and slightly annoyed as he hung the phone up again.

Now he was at a loose end; he had to stay in order to meet Ben and explain the situation, but then everyone had gone home, so there was nothing else to do.

Cal paused; not everyone had gone home.

He wandered into the reception area slowly, no great rush to do anything with all the time in the world on his hands it seemed.

"Heidi love," he called as he approached her desk.

Bless her, she was still sorting through some paperwork, the phone clamped under her ear. The only member of his work force that didn't currently hold a grudge against him.

"Yes?" she asked, putting the phone down and smiling at him.

"Go home darling," he sighed, motioning for her to leave all of her work and get out of here.

"I have another half hour before I usually leave," she pointed out.

Jesus, was it half seven already? Time had absolutely flown by, and Cal had no idea what he'd done in those last few hours. Where had that time gone exactly?

"Consider it a treat for being the only good employee left around here," he said, winking at her, but they could both tell he didn't have his usual cheeky edge.

"Well, thank you," she smiled, starting to pack her things up. "Are you okay?"

"I'll survive love," he said, nodding his head at her.

"I heard Ria shouting at you earlier," she admitted.

"The whole of bloody America heard Torres shouting at me," he said, rolling his eyes. "Ended with a flipping death threat."

"Don't take it to heart," Heidi said sympathetically. "I think they're all just a little hurt."

"A little?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, a lot," she said, fighting a laugh. "They'll get over it in time."

"They'd better do," Cal groaned. "Otherwise it might just be you and me for a while."

Cal couldn't help but notice the flicker of alarm on her face, as accustomed to reading people as he was, and he grinned, the first genuine smile he'd worn in a while.

"Only joking love," he said. "Go on, off you go."

"See you tomorrow Mr Lightman," she smiled, and turned for the door.

"Do you intend on addressing me by my first name anytime soon?" he asked hopefully.

"Probably not," she called without turning round.

The doors slammed shut behind her ominously and then Cal was alone.

This was a situation he often found himself in; being alone in the building. Countless cases had forced him to stay here far longer than he really wanted to, sometimes until the early hours of the morning, with a cup of coffee and occasionally Foster's presence to keep him awake.

Usually though, Gillian headed home after around eleven, always trying to coax Cal into leaving whatever it was until the morning, and he always refused. She wasn't there to talk him into stopping work tonight; but then tonight, he had no work to do.

The stack of files in his office was almost certainly going untouched tonight. Never had Cal felt so disinclined to do any form of work. His mind kept straying to other subjects instead, and so tonight, rather than just feeling normal, being alone here this late made him anxious and on edge.

He knew that was ridiculous though; Cal was not a man who got scared easily, if at all, and though he knew exactly what was unnerving him, he brushed those thoughts aside quickly. From past experience, he knew that attackers never struck twice in the same day.

Feeling frustrated that he had time on his hands and nothing to do, Cal flicked off a few of the bright lobby lights and wandered back to his office, hoping to find something to do. He sat down at his desk, and tried to figure out something that needed sorting out.

When nothing jumped out at him, he decided to call Ben again. He was restless and needed something to keep his hands and mind busy.

The call wouldn't even connect this time though, going straight through to his stupid voice mail. Guess he had his cell phone off. Cal hoped this was a sign that the case he was working on was coming to a head, and the fact his phone was switched off meant they were wrapping things up and he didn't want to be disturbed.

While his phone was out, he decided he may as well give Foster another call. It would be stupid to think Torres would pick up, and as he strongly suspected she would be with Loker, it would be foolish to call him too. Foster had given him a chance earlier though; she might have calmed down much faster than either of them had anticipated.

Not bloody likely. Just like Reynolds, the call ended up going to answer phone, but it did ring beforehand. This was worse in a way; it meant Gillian was at home, but simply ignoring his call. This time when the answer phone beeped, he decided to leave a message.

"Hey Foster," he began, sighing. "Give me a call back when you feel like it love. I'm not sure what to do for the best here, but you talking to me again would probably be a step in the right direction. Speak soon darling."

He sighed wearily again, and then snapped his phone shut.

At almost the exact same moment, the lights in his office went off, but a snap accompanied them, as though someone else had switched them off.

Cal frowned then stood up and crossed over to where there was a light switch nearby. For a split second, the room was illuminated again, and he saw a dark figure stood in the doorway, and then their arm reached out and flicked them off again.

A thrill of fear shot down Cal's spine. After all, though he didn't get scared often, he was only human, and being defenceless in the dark with an unknown person stood in the doorway was enough to terrify the strongest of men.

"What do you want?" Cal asked, trying to sound brave.

"Telling you would be a little too easy," replied an extremely familiar voice.

It was male, and Cal immediately tried to place it, but his mind drew a blank. He knew that the voice was one he'd heard before, but then at the same time, he felt like he hadn't heard it in a long time.

"Then why are you here?" Cal said, feeling uneasy as he realised he had no idea where the man was in the room.

"I'm just playing my game still," he said, and sure enough, the voice was closer this time.

"What game?" Cal growled. "Are you the one attacking my colleagues?"

"Oh Doctor Lightman, you are good."

"Why?" Cal asked, angry now.

"I have my reasons," the man said, and it sounded like it was smiling. "I'm extremely surprised you didn't see this coming actually. How foolish it was of you to wait here, all alone for me. It made my job much easier, rest assured. Thank you."

"My pleasure," Cal spat. "Get out of here, now. The FBI is on their way; you'll be found immediately."

"Oh don't worry; my task is quick and simple tonight. I don't have to waste time throwing papers around or making sure someone's beaten up enough so that they can barely walk."

Fury radiated through Cal such as he had never known before.

"You will pay for what you did to my employees," said Cal, his anger making his voice shake.

"And you will pay for what you have done to me," replied the man. "Goodbye Lightman."

A single gunshot sounded and then Cal was on the floor, a searing pain in his torso.

The man retreated from the room quickly, no trace that he'd ever been there. His job was done, and it had been done well. No wasted time, no wasted bullets.

Cal was panicking. He didn't panic often, but there were certain times when he deemed it acceptable to panic. Now was one of those times. He groaned, and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do. Truth be told, he had no idea when Reynolds would be here, and Cal knew it wouldn't be long before he passed out; already he felt lightheaded.

Still, Lightman was a survivor, and there was no way he'd let one damn bullet get the better of him.

Slowly and painfully, Cal reached into his pocket and managed to dial Foster's phone; right now he definitely agreed with her that speed dial had been a good idea. As he'd suspected it went to voice mail again, and Cal could only pray that she'd listen to his message, and soon.

"Gill," he groaned, and his voice sounded awful even to him. "Need your help. Don't come to the office without Ben."

Cal didn't want her here by herself; his attacker might have lied, and there was no way he'd let Gillian walk into this danger by herself. He hoped she would listen.

Cal could sense a black cloud hovering, waiting to close in on him, so he took a deep, shuddering breath and muttered a final sentence to her.

"Need an ambulance too."

After that his fingers gave out and he dropped his phone, squeezing his eyes tight in a fruitless effort to block out everything. No one could say he hadn't tried his best to fight back.

Now though, he welcomed the darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Apologies. I did warn you I liked cliffhangers.**


	7. Rescue

**A/N: Absolute uproar at the way I ended the last chapter! Never has anything been so amusing in my fanfiction world. Therefore, I thought I'd be nice and leave this chapter all neatly tied up for you. Thanks again for reading and reviewing, honestly, nothing makes me happier than seeing your lovely comments.**

* * *

><p><span>7. Rescue<span>

Absentmindedly, Gillian scratched her cheek thoughtfully, and then regretted it. A small piece of skin came off in her fingers, and when she touched her hand to where it had come from, sure enough, a little spot of blood appeared.

Stupid glass.

It had been around two hours since Gillian had had the life terrified out of her by the arrival of a brick through her office window. The glass had flown straight at her; she'd been lucky none of it had hit her eyes.

Gingerly she'd gone to inspect the offending object, feeling sick when she saw the note attached. When Cal and Ria had arrived on the scene, all she'd been able to feel was absolute fury towards her business partner. Maybe now he'd start believing everyone. They could only wish.

Ria had been kind enough to help her clean her face up; with the way Gillian's hands had been shaking, the alcoholic solution would have ended up in her eye, and that was the last thing she'd needed.

After, Torres had assured her that she'd go and have a word with Cal; Gillian should just go home and calm down. There was nothing more she was going to get done that day. Gillian knew that Ria's idea of a 'word with Cal' meant a yelling match, but honestly, for once, she felt he deserved it.

Gillian huffed as the phone rang again, rolling her eyes as it brought her pack to the present. She knew exactly who it would be; it felt like Cal hadn't left her alone tonight. Usually he knew his limits but apparently he was pushing it tonight.

She sat there for a while, deriving an amused kind of pleasure from letting it ring, and then stood up and wandered into the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee while the message played out.

It was certainly irritating that she couldn't stop the message before deleting it; definitely time to invest in a new phone, where the message didn't play out loud. Hearing Cal's voice made her waver; she always wanted to pick up and talk to him, but she was angry with him at the moment, and he had to understand that, or things would never change.

She started busying herself with the coffee, and while it was busy sorting itself out, she walked back into her lounge to hear the final bits of the message playing out.

"...need an ambulance too."

She paused in her tracks. That was definitely Cal, but his voice sounded different, and she was an expert on the matter. It sounded in pain, and not the sort you could just put on either.

For a moment she contemplated the situation - there was a chance this was just a way of Cal getting her to ring him back, by being all dramatic. If it was, she'd never forgive him.

Then again, it could be real...

Now a little afraid, Gillian approached the phone as though it might attack her, realising the call hadn't disconnected, and there was just silence on the end.

She hit the button to connect, and spoke hesitantly.

"Cal?"

There was no answer.

"Cal? Can you hear me?"

Silence still remained. Maybe he'd left his phone lying around somewhere.

She kept it on the line and listened to the rest of his message.

"Gill. Need your help," it began, and immediately she knew this was real. Cal hadn't addressed her by her first name in years. "Don't come to the office without Ben."

She froze. That meant he was in danger.

Switching to the other line, her voice was more frantic this time.

"Cal where are you? Can you hear me? Cal?"

Still he didn't reply, and fear took hold.

"Cal!" she screamed. "Cal!"

Her screams echoed around his office, coming from the phone that was lying in a pool of blood.

Without even thinking, Gillian grabbed her keys from the table and nearly took the front door off in her attempt to shut it. She fumbled with the lock, her nervousness making her inaccurate, but Gillian was still a sensible woman underneath her panic; she wasn't going to just leave it unlocked when there was someone out there after her.

Apparently they were after Cal as well.

Racing to her car, Gillian nearly destroyed her gearstick as well as she threw it around, taking her drive so fast she had to almost fully lock the steering wheel in order to turn round in time.

Be calm. If she rolled the car over now, who the hell was going to get to Cal?

Gillian hurriedly glanced down and sorted her cell out so it was fastened in the right place then hit speed dial number five for Reynolds.

It felt like days before it connected, and Gillian got more and more anxious the closer she drew to the Lightman building. If this was all just a way for Cal to lure her back for an apology...

"Hey Gillian, we're on our way now, don't panic."

"Cal's in trouble," she blurted out, fear taking over her senses.

"What? Speak slower, I can't hear."

"Cal, he's in trouble, he rang and he said not to go without you, and he sounded in pain, and I think someone's attacked him-"

"Gillian, breathe," Reynolds commanded with a firm voice. "How far away are you?"

It was difficult to tell where she was in the dark, as preoccupied as her mind was, but she noticed some familiar buildings at the side.

"I'm about ten minutes away," she said breathlessly.

"We'll be there in five. My men will go in and find anyone there, I'll wait for you outside. He's going to be okay Gillian."

"Okay," she said, hoping against hope he was right. "He said to phone an ambulance too."

Ben swore loudly, despite the fact it sounded as though he'd moved the phone away from him.

"I'll get onto that; they'll respond to us faster. It's going to be fine."

"See you in a few minutes," she said shakily, realising if she didn't focus wholly on her driving right now, there was a high chance she'd run herself off the road.

"Stay calm."

The call disconnected and Gillian took the cell and shoved it back in her jeans pocket; she'd been in such a rush, she hadn't even grabbed her purse, just the necessities. If she ran out of gas at some point, she'd just have to walk.

As she drove, she considered calling Ria or Eli, but distinctly remembered Ria telling her she was going round to his after work, probably trying to distract her as she cleaned her face up. That conversation felt like centuries ago now, but it was only a few hours; they'd still be there together, and she didn't want to disturb them. Besides, there might be nothing wrong with Cal. It might still be a hoax.

The idea that had annoyed her earlier, she was now clinging to. Deep down though, she knew Cal was in trouble. He might call her to his office on a whim, but he would never instruct her to call an ambulance unless he needed it; she had a hard enough time getting him to take a damn aspirin when he had a headache.

She laughed as the thought, but this only made her sad, and before she could help it, tears were pouring down her face. There was no valid reason for this; Cal might just have fallen and broken his leg or something. There was just an uncertainty growing inside her that Cal was in a bad situation right now.

As she pulled up outside her workplace, she took a deep breath and furiously wiped away at the tears that had probably made tracks down her face. Gillian Foster was calm and cool at all times.

Ben strode over to her immediately once she'd gotten out, his face drawn and tired looking.

"Hey Gillian," he said, his voice unusually soft.

"Hi," she answered. "Why are you here so fast?"

"We were on our way to investigate the threats anyway when we got your call."

"Are your men already in there then?" she asked, her voice wavering.

"Yeah, there's been nothing found yet, except..."

He trailed off, breaking eye contact and shoving his hands in his pockets. Ben never got anxious or nervous. Never.

"What?" Gillian demanded, her voice a tad too high.

"Well they found Cal," he said quietly, looking at her again.

"What? What is it?" she asked, unsure of whether she wanted the answer.

"The ambulance is on its way, don't worry," he said, patting her shoulder. "And they said there was a definite pulse."

"Oh my god, oh my god," Gillian began, shrugging out from underneath his arm and racing towards the building, still muttering the same words.

"Foster, wait!" Reynolds called, but she was already on her way to his office, where she knew he'd be.

An involuntary shiver went through her as she all but fell into his office. The lights were all switched on, blinding her momentarily after the dark of the outside and the rest of the building.

She stood there frozen as she took in the scene before her.

Cal's office was normal; not a thing was out of place. She had not been expecting this. She thought she'd walk into the scene of a fight, with his things strewn everywhere. This would have been better perhaps. Because in Cal's office, his untouched office, with FBI agents dotted around looking for things, it was very obvious that Cal hadn't even attempted to fight back whatever had got him; it was obvious he hadn't had time.

Two men were kneeling by something on the floor, and Gillian took a deep breath then stepped forward. As she drew closer, they looked up at her and moved away for a second, to give her some space.

No words could leave her mouth as she saw her best friend lying on the floor, ghostly pale.

Before her legs could give out, she knelt down beside him, gently stroking his cheek. His eyes remained closed, and his mouth was downturned; he was frowning at something. Probably the pain. Carefully she ran her fingers through his hair, and then before she knew it, Gillian had buried her face in his chest and was sobbing like there was no tomorrow.

No one disturbed her. In the five minutes it took for the ambulances to arrive, all they could do was stand and watch as the woman cried over the body of her friend. There was nothing anyone could do, nothing anyone could say. Reassuring her would be pointless.

Gillian couldn't care less about the people staring at her. She was consumed with grief already, despite Reynolds' words running around her brain.

She grasped at these words, praying for them to pull her through. He still had a pulse. Cal was still alive right now. He was alive now, and he would be tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that, because Gillian needed him.

"Cal, don't leave me," she whispered, tears still streaming down her face.

When Ben arrived on the scene, his heart almost broke at the picture in front of him. This was so out of character for Gillian. He rarely saw her shed even a single tear, her composure never faltered.

All it took was for her best friend to be in trouble though, and she crumbled. He watched as her body shook with sobs, and motioned for the rest of the agents to continue with their search of the building and leave them alone; the EMTs had arrived with a stretcher, ready to rush Cal to the hospital.

Carefully they approached Gillian; they didn't deal with situations like this very often, but when they did, it was almost always the same.

One of the older men gently led Gillian away, taking her arm as she stood up. She was unsteady on her feet, and Reynolds stepped in to stand behind her, his arms clamped on her shoulders, unsure of whether she might make a mad dash for Cal as they manoeuvred him onto the stretcher.

Instead, Gillian went to grab his cell phone which was still lying on the floor, but Ben grabbed her arm again, preventing her.

"Why not?" she whispered, unable to get her voice much louder.

"It's a part of the crime scene," he said, cringing as the words came out.

Gillian furrowed her eyebrows then nodded.

"Come on," he said, putting his arm round her shoulder and leading her away from Cal's office, towards his car. "I'll drive you to the hospital."

"I can drive myself," she protested.

"It's bad enough having one person hospitalised right now; we don't need two."

She fell silent, knowing she would pose a great risk to her own health as well as that of others if she went out on the roads right now.

From the moment she slipped into the passenger seat of Ben's FBI cruiser and he pulled away, switching on the sirens so they could follow the speeding ambulance, Gillian's world became a blur.

All her thoughts were focused on Cal, the way he'd looked, the way he'd felt. She couldn't bring herself to contemplate his fate right now; she just needed to think of him and nothing else.

She vaguely remembered Ben leading her into the hospital and instructing her to wait on some chairs somewhere, and then the waiting game began.

People rushed around her, Ben disappeared and reappeared from time to time, sometimes accompanied by doctors, sometimes accompanied by agents.

No one disturbed Gillian. At one point, she was aware of someone wrapping a blanket around her, and sensed she might just be going into shock.

Eventually, as the hours wore on and the morning was looming, the hospital got quieter. This scared Gillian. It made it less easy to block out everything, because there was nothing to block out. There was just silence, which allowed her to think about everything, and dwell on Cal's mortality. Gradually she became more alert, which didn't make sense to her, because she figured she'd be exhausted by now, yet slowly but surely, her senses all came back to her, until it was all she could do not to race around half crazy trying to find someone who could fill her in on the situation.

Ben came by a little later, and he looked relieved to see Gillian looking less catatonic.

"How're you feeling?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"How's Cal?" she asked, ignoring his question.

"They're still working on him, he's in surgery," he said, looking sympathetic. "I was speaking to one of the doctors though, and he said someone's going to come and talk to you about it soon."

"Are you leaving then?" Gillian asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," he said. "My boss has been on the phone; technically I'm still on duty because I haven't been back and sorted things out yet, and he says I'll be breaking the law if I don't get back soon."

"Okay," she sighed. "Will you come back here at any point?"

"I don't know if I'll be back here, but I'll be at the offices. Call me if you need anything Gillian."

"Thanks Ben," she said, offering him a weak smile.

"I mean it. Any little thing and you just call. The second you get an update on Lightman, call me."

"I will," she promised.

"Thanks. I'll see you around Foster."

"Bye," she called as he walked off down the corridor.

Approximately two hours and three minutes later, a doctor entered the corridor where she was sat, via the double doors at the end, apparently looking for someone. Gillian's heart sprang to her mouth; he might be bearing news about Cal.

Sure enough, the man approached her and suddenly she wasn't sure if she wanted to know or not. This would be definite; this wouldn't allow Gillian to pretend he'd be okay anymore. She'd have to face the facts and deal with him, and honest to god, she knew she wasn't ready yet.

"Doctor Foster?" the man addressed her.

"Yes?" she said breathlessly. She stood up to greet him, but at his next words, wished she'd remained sitting down.

"We're so sorry. It doesn't look like Doctor Lightman is going to make it."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Haha, you didn't seriously believe me now did you? When I had that much fun last time, did you really think I'd pass up that chance again? Love you all! Oh, and get the tissues ready for the next chapter folks.**


	8. Nightmare

8. Nightmare

Gillian smiled sadly as she fastened her necklace. It had been one Cal had given her a few birthdays ago; his gifts were always so thoughtful somehow, though she did suspect Emily had had a hand in them on occasion.

Still, he definitely had a knack for choosing nice things.

No; he'd had a knack.

The smile disappeared, and she closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry. It was hard to remember he wasn't around anymore; harder still to bring herself to use the past tense.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped back for a moment and surveyed herself in the mirror.

Simple black skirt and black blouse, Cal's necklace, and some black shoes.

"You look lovely darling."

She jumped, shaking her head. Since that fateful night, she'd been hearing Cal's voice in her head over and over again. Gillian was sure it was just a way of coping with everything; she was unwilling to let him go yet, and this was her keeping hold of him for just a little longer.

After a while though, it would go. And she was terrified, quite frankly.

Photographs would always remain, reminding her of how he looked, memories would always be able to play in her head, reminding her of how he laughed and joked, but she couldn't hold onto the sound of his voice forever. One day, it would fade, and she just wasn't ready for that.

"Come on Gillian," she whispered, trying to pull herself together. "It's only been a week."

She took another breath, straightened her skirt, and left the room. Slowly she walked downstairs, not wanting to do this in the slightest, but knowing it was necessary. She needed to say bye; it was too easy to pretend Cal was on a trip somewhere, coming home soon. He wasn't coming home though, and she needed to realise that.

For a moment, Gillian hovered by her window, and then the black cars rolled up outside. She bit her trembling lip and grabbed her purse, then walked outside.

The driver got out and opened the door for her, and she carefully slid in. He shut it behind her, and she turned to face the other passengers.

Zoe looked at her sadly, understanding what she was going through, but Emily couldn't even make eye contact. She was already shaking with tears, and she knew seeing Gillian would just make her cry harder.

Gillian sighed, and then put an arm around Emily, pulling her in for a quick hug. It was meant to reassure her, but as expected, Emily's crying increased, and as she looked up at Gillian, anyone could see the clear agony in her eyes.

After all, Gillian knew it was hard enough losing a best friend; losing a father at the age of seventeen didn't even bear thinking about.

"Come on," Gillian said after a while, feeling strong enough to talk without breaking down. "Your dad would not have wanted this. In fact, he'd probably have been yelling at you right now."

She gave Emily's hand a squeeze, and Zoe smiled at Gillian, holding Emily's other hand. All Gillian wanted was for someone to hold her hand, but the only person she'd ever want to do that was unavailable right now - and if he was, there'd be no need.

Still, she had to stay strong for Emily. If a grown woman couldn't keep her emotions in check for a while, how was a teenager supposed to cope?

By this time, the car had almost reached the crematorium, where the small service would be held. When making arrangements, Zoe and Gillian had both agreed that Cal would have wanted a British funeral, with nothing left behind for either of them to mope over. Gillian was touched that Zoe had wanted to include her in the funeral arrangements for Cal. After all, Zoe was the mother of his child; she'd assumed the two of them would want to organise everything, but Emily had insisted Gillian be involved too, and Zoe had backed her up.

"You were his best friend," Emily had said earnestly. "He'd kill us if he knew we were leaving you out of this. Besides, you know him better than anyone; how are we supposed to do it how he'd want if we don't know what he'd want?"

Gillian hadn't argued. Planning Cal's funeral hadn't been high on her list of things to do in life, but there it was, no two ways about it, and Gillian knew she'd never rest if she hadn't helped them send him on his way peacefully.

Now though, she wanted nothing more than to go home and bury herself under her duvet, and not have a single thing to do with today. It was her worst nightmare, and yet she was living it, something she'd never wanted to do.

She hadn't even risked a glance at the car in front, the car carrying him. She'd seen the coffin and she'd been to visit him one last time, to say a proper goodbye, but seeing it in the car surrounded by flowers was going to be too much.

The car journey couldn't last forever though, and eventually the car pulled up outside the building. It was a nice place, Gillian couldn't deny that. The exterior of the building was grey stonework, surrounded by green gardens with trees everywhere, and the odd private bench situated around. Somehow, she knew Cal would have approved.

The three women got out, and Gillian left Emily to Zoe; she needed her mother on a day like this, and the two were hugging each other tightly. Gillian knew Zoe had always held Cal in high esteem, even since their divorce, and she was grieving too.

Instead, Gillian walked over to where Eli and Ria were stood, Eli's arm around her shoulders comforting her. Reynolds was stood close by, and he nodded at Gillian. She smiled at him for a second, and then it was replaced by the sad look she'd recently been sporting again.

"Gillian, it's time," Zoe said quietly.

"Okay," Gillian all but whispered.

Reynolds walked over to assist in lifting Cal's coffin up, and then him and five other men walked with it into the building. Zoe and Emily followed with Gillian close behind, and Ria and Eli next, holding hands for support.

The few other guests trickled in afterwards, and once everyone had taken their seats, it began.

The vicar said a few words first; everyone knew Cal wasn't a religious man, but Emily had asked for it, so the decision was made. When he'd finished, he nodded at Gillian, and she swallowed nervously.

On wobbly legs, she walked up to the front; the vicar stood aside so she could take his place. Gillian took a deep breath, and then looked at the gathering of people stood in front of her.

"Wow, this is harder than I ever imagined it to be," she began after a pause, trying to remain composed. "When Emily asked me to speak, I didn't hesitate - I wanted to stand here and tell you all how amazing Cal was, and how much I was going to miss him. I even tried to write a speech, but it wasn't really working out for me."

She stopped, scared of rambling on; Emily glanced up at her, her tears stopped momentarily, and Gillian continued.

"So many times, Cal and I discussed our funeral plans. Sometimes it was because we were in a dire situation, the result of having a ridiculous job, and death was imminent. Other times, we were just bored, and neither of us could help the fact Cal had a distinctly morbid mind. The problem was, Cal had memorised everything I wanted, right down to the order of the music, but I never really listened to what he had to say - the thought of me outliving him was something I could laugh about.

"But now, here I am, doing something I never thought I'd have to do. I wracked my brain over the past week, trying to go over all of those conversations we had, but I only came up with a few things. The first was that he didn't want much of a fuss; he wanted a few things said, and then it was to be done with. The second was that if Eli and Ria weren't together on the day, he wouldn't be impressed. Well, thanks guys."

For a brief moment, Gillian allowed herself to smile as she glanced at her two colleagues sat there, hand in hand. The tension between Loker and Torres had been apparent for a while now, and Cal had never hesitated to remind them of it. Gillian found the memory amusing, and Loker shared in her smile, but Ria's face remained downcast. Gillian frowned at it, pitying the girl.

"So I guess, in order to get the other bit right, I shouldn't stay up here talking for too much longer. All day long I could talk to you about Cal Lightman. I could tell you every little flaw he had, and everything that was perfect about him. There was a reason I went into business with him, and there was a reason he became the closest friend I ever had. No one wants to hear that right now though - you should just all know that he was an incredible person, but most know that already. If I ever become half the person he was, I would be a very lucky woman.

"Of course, he'd probably kill me for saying that. He never was one for soppy moments; I can almost picture him miming something silly right now. Unfortunately, he won't ever again, and that's going to be tough on all of us. The problem is, he wouldn't want it to be. Cal never wanted attention unless he felt like it, and I know right now, he wouldn't want us all to be feeling miserable.

"It's easier said than done; losing someone is upsetting there are no two ways about it. But there are other emotions here today as well, and he'd be annoyed. Guilt, for one."

Gillian looked at Ria, who had kept her head down, letting her tears fall onto her hands, a few of them dropping on Eli too. Gillian didn't know what had transpired between Cal and Torres recently, but she knew it was upsetting Ria, and Gillian could recognise guilt.

"Why anyone would feel guilty, I do not know. I doubt a single one of us here could put our hands up and say that at some point, we hadn't insulted Cal. Fortunately, with an ego that big, it always rolled off him, which was good, because at times, he was an absolute jerk."

Gillian knew he'd be grinning at this, if he was listening, and she smiled a little to herself.

"I can sense regret as well though. Regret for what? For not spending more time with him? For not making amends as well as you might have done?"

This time, Gillian looked at Zoe - though she knew the love had run out between the two many years ago, there was no denying Zoe's emotions, but Gillian knew there was no reason for it. Cal and Zoe had been the closest they'd ever been in recent years, and she knew he was happy about this.

Zoe looked up at her, a tear making its way down her cheek, and Gillian shook her head, letting her know that how she was feeling right now wasn't what he would have wanted. Zoe nodded, and brushed her tear away, looking back at Emily. Gillian sighed, and continued.

"Perhaps even regret for never telling him how you truly felt."

That one was all on her.

"But feeling like this isn't right. Cal wouldn't have wanted us all to be moping here. He would've used this as the perfect excuse to get drunk and flirt with anything that moved. So I'll finish with saying this. Cal wasn't perfect. But we all loved him regardless. And yes, this is a hard time right now. But if we're feeling something other than sadness, that's wrong, and he wouldn't want that.

"He meant something different to each of us, but personally, I'd like to thank whatever twist of fate brought me to Cal Lightman. For these last years, I've been blessed with him as my friend, and I'll be forever grateful."

Gillian nodded as she finished her speech, the first few tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked at Emily, who managed to smile, and Gillian knew she'd done okay.

Carefully, Gillian walked back to her seat, and then braced herself for the next part.

As Cal's coffin disappeared from sight, Gillian finally broke down, her nightmare finally cementing itself as being true. The sobs of the people around her became muffled as she cried herself.

"I loved you Cal Lightman," she whispered, closing her eyes as the curtains finished closing, letting herself sob. "And I always will. Always. I love you Cal. God, I love you so much."

"Foster? Gillian?" someone said from very far away, further away than the crying. "Come on, wake up."

Someone touched her shoulder and it made her jump. She opened her eyes suddenly, finding herself sat on the chairs in the hospital corridor still, Reynolds next to her again.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You fell asleep," he said, looking at her with concern. "Not surprising though. The doctors called me instead, seeing as you didn't."

"Didn't what?" Gillian asked, frowning.

"Didn't call," said Ben slowly. "Like I asked you to. When there was news on Cal."

"Oh my god, Cal," Gillian breathed, memories flooding back. "Ben, he's not...he didn't..."

"What?" asked Reynolds; he was the one getting confused now.

"The doctors, they said he wouldn't make it."

"That was a few hours ago now," Ben said kindly, understanding dawning on him now. "You really think Cal was going to let us escape him just yet?"

"What?" Gillian asked faintly. "He's...he made it?"

"Of course he did, he's Lightman. He'll be annoyed you didn't think he had it in him. That's why I woke you up - the doctor said you could go see him. That, and you looked like you were having a rough sleep."

"I think I was having a nightmare," she said, not quite daring to believe that was true. "So, Cal is alive?"

"He is indeed," Ben said, smiling reassuringly. "He's in bad shape, but he's there, waiting for you."

Gillian had already left her seat to find him, causing Ben to chuckle.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Kept it down here, so as not to ruin things. Firstly, I know it's been a little while, which was cruel, because I left you with a massive cliffhanger, so I'm sorry. The thing is, I had the funeral of someone very close to me just a few weeks ago, so writing this was hard; I hope I did a good enough job with it. On a lighter note though, as if I'd really kill Cal! Come on people. Sorry this chapter was a little evil, with that twist at the end, but it was necessary, you'll see. Thanks for reading!  
><strong>


	9. Denial

9. Denial

Something slapped Gillian's cheek. It wasn't hard or painful, but it did jolt her awake, and she sat up suddenly, confused and a little afraid. It had felt like a hand.

"Wahey, she's awake."

Gillian blinked, and then saw the grinning face of her best friend. He had his eyebrows raised, and beneath the sarcastic smile he was wearing, there was genuine excitement and relief.

"Oh god Cal," she breathed, remembering why she was sat on a hard plastic chair, next to a hospital bed.

"Well, god is a new one, but I'll take it," he teased.

"I was so worried about- wait, did you just slap me?" she asked, offended.

"Not very hard," he said, winking. "You were sleeping on my hand love, and as nice as it was, it was starting to tingle. You know that feeling just before you're going to get pins and needles?"

"Sorry," Gillian said, blushing. "I didn't realise I'd fallen asleep."

"No worries darling, but next time, just ask. This bed is big enough for two."

"Cal!" she said indignantly, reprimanding him with a glare. "You're in hospital, why are you so...so..."

"Randy?"

"Randy was not the word I was looking for," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Fits though, right? Anyway, I have a bone to pick with you."

"Cal, you've been unconscious for the last twenty four hours, because you got...injured. How do you already have a problem with me?"

"Ah, see, I've actually been awake for two hours previous to this. While you were playing Sleeping Beauty...well, while you were sleeping-"

"Hey," Gillian said, hitting him playfully on the arm.

"Oh, ouch, Jesus," he said, wincing as if in agony.

"Oh Cal, I'm so sorry," she said, panicking and making as if to stand up. "I'll go get a nurse or something, I'm so sorry-"

"Foster, love, I'm kidding," he said, his face clearing and his eyes friendly. "Don't get up."

"Cal, that's not funny," she said, dropping her eyes and staring at his hand instead.

"Gill," he began, but she flinched.

"What?" he asked, worried.

"You called me Gill during that phone call," she said quietly, slowly looking up at him.

He looked at her for a long time, studying her, but she just looked back, knowing he wouldn't be able to decipher her feelings. If she couldn't even work them out yet, then Lightman wouldn't be able to. She needed to go away and clear her head, work out what the end of her nightmare had meant, and being here in the hospital with Cal wasn't the best way.

"You okay?" he asked after a while, frowning and placing his hand over hers.

"Mmm," she nodded, forcing a smile at him and trying to ignore the needle poking out of his hand.

She had, in fact, been trying to ignore all of the wires and drips connected to him at the moment. It was all helping, so it was good, but somehow, it made him look small. The Cal lying in the bed wasn't the Cal she knew; Gillian felt bigger than him, stronger, and it was never like that.

Cal noticed that her smile was forced, but he could also see that she didn't want to talk about it; even if her expressions were a closed book to him, he could still know to a certain extent what she was feeling, just from years of being partners.

"Where was I then?"

"Your bone," she replied dryly, all traces of sadness gone.

"Oi oi," he laughed while she shook her head.

"Cal."

"Sorry love, couldn't help myself."

"Can you get on with it?"

"Sure," he said, still smirking. "So while you were giving me a dead hand, Reynolds came in to see me. Something about checking whether you'd run straight into me? I've never known you to be one to barrel around places-"

"Firstly, I do not barrel around," said Gillian, looking offended. "And of course I didn't run straight into you."

"You ran though?" he asked slyly.

"I just wanted to check you were okay."

"I know darling, whatever. So, he came in to check things out, and he told me that you somehow got the notion into your head that I might not survive. What on earth would give you that idea? I mean, this is me we're talking about love."

"I don't know what would give me that idea Cal," she said softly. "It might have been the phone call asking for an ambulance. It might have been the way you were lying in a pool of blood. Maybe it was just my mind going crazy after hours of sitting in a daze."

"Well, I am quite frankly offended that you thought that," he continued, not fully taking in what she'd said. The pain medication he was on was driving him insane, he was sure of it.

"I'm sorry," she said, no louder than a whisper.

"Yeah, well you should- Foster?"

"Sorry," she said, hastily wiping away the tears that had betrayed her and raced down her cheeks.

"Bloody hell love, don't start crying on me in here. I can't even sit up, let alone give you a hug."

"Yeah," she laughed, drying her eyes. "I think I need one of your hugs right now. Just to prove you're still alive."

"I've been here the whole time," he grinned. "Not getting rid of me that easily. You sound like you were already planning my funeral."

You have no idea, she thought.

"Something like that," she said, letting her words trail off, then looking up at him. "Do you mind if I head home for a few hours? I want to freshen up so I can get back here."

"No problem, but you're not coming back after this."

"Why?" she asked, outraged then hurt. "Don't you want me here?"

"Where the bloody hell do you get these ideas from?" he sighed, shaking his head. "Don't want you here... Christ. I want you to go home and get some sleep love. It's morning, and I bet you haven't slept since yesterday night."

"I slept for a few hours earlier."

"Yeah, and how refreshing was that?"

Gillian nodded, giving him that one.

"I'm coming back though," she added. "I'm sorry Cal. I'll get Loker or Torres to man the fort."

"I'm not changing your mind am I?"

"No," she said, smiling at him. "The only reason I'd leave is if they kicked me out, and I bet you've got all those nurses wrapped around your pinky already."

"You know me well," he said, grinning. "Go on love, get going. I'm not moving anywhere anytime soon."

"Good," she said, standing up and cringing as her legs protested. "I'll be back soon."

"Take your time."

"I'm glad you made it Cal," she said quietly.

"You and me both love, you and me both."

Gillian walked out of the room and paused outside the little window looking into the ward Cal was on. She frowned at how exhausted and little he looked - they hadn't dwelt on the subject of why he was actually in here yet, with neither of them wanting to go into that territory, but it still scared her how close it had been.

She shook her head to clear it and then walked out of the hospital, into the crisp morning air. Calling a cab to take her back to her workplace, Gillian got to work on what she needed to do.

She needed to retrieve her car. She needed to shower. She needed to change her clothes. She needed to call Loker and Torres and get them back to work. She needed to call Ben and get him to drop by The Lightman Group so he could talk to them. And most importantly, she needed food.

~.^.~

A few hours later, and Gillian had achieved everything she'd set out to achieve.

She was currently sat on her couch, enjoying a mug of warm milk, her guilty pleasure. Her phone was going to ring any minute, and she was savouring the moment of peace before her day went into overdrive again.

More than anything, she wanted to be back at the hospital with Cal, but she knew she needed to settle things at home and at work first, and besides, there was a little part of her reluctant to return.

It had been around five o'clock when she'd hastily made her way to Cal's hospital room this morning, and seven when the two of them were both awake and able to converse. Cal had still been recovering from the effects of surgery and medication, Gillian had been trying to function from just less than four hours of sleep since the night before.

Needless to say, neither of them had been in a fit state to discuss everything that had actually, which was probably why their conversation had been completely ridiculous; Gillian could barely remember what it was about, and it had only been a few hours ago.

She'd planned to head back in there for around ten - that gave her enough time to wake up some more, and him enough time to dwell on what had happened without her around to distract him.

Having a shower and changing her clothes had definitely livened Gillian up some more - she'd contemplated coffee, but had instead given in to the temptation of milk. It was less energising, and certainly less mature, but Gillian felt she could treat herself after such a crazy night.

Now, she was just waiting for Torres to get back to her about work - Gillian had called her around half an hour ago, but she'd sounded a little distracted, and Gillian was almost certain she'd been able to hear Eli in the background. She'd refrained from asking though, only smiling a little to herself as Torres asked if she could call back in a while.

Gillian had already called Ben; the FBI team were heading back to the Lightman building to continue their investigations, and Reynolds was with them. He wanted all of the staff in, so he could inform them about what had happened, and so he could find out if anyone had seen anything or known of any threat, besides what had happened over the last few days.

The phone finally rang again and Gillian sighed, putting her mug of milk on the table.

"Hello?"

"Hey Foster, it's Ria. Sorry about earlier."

"Oh, no problem."

Gillian was tempted to ask if Eli was still there, but managed to refrain.

"So, what's wrong?"

Gillian took a deep breath, wondering how best to phrase this. In the end, she decided it wasn't something to be discussed over the phone.

"I was wondering if you'd be able to get to work a little earlier today. You and Eli, if you can contact him soon."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Gillian knew Ria was still angry at Cal.

"Well, I suppose I could - I don't know about Loker. To be honest Foster, I don't really want to."

"Look, Ria, I know you're angry at Cal, but he's not even there. I don't want to have this conversation with you over the phone, and I know Reynolds will be able to explain it better, but there was an attack there last night, and we need all hands on deck."

"An attack? Oh my god, is everyone okay? I bet Lightman's wishing he'd listened to those threats now."

"I bet he is, because he was the one who got attacked," Gillian said gently, shaking her head at Ria's brash nature. She knew Torres liked to speak her mind, but she'd yet to learn the art of tact and when to keep her opinions to herself.

"He was?" she asked, and Gillian could practically see her eyes bugging out. "Lightman got attacked?"

Gillian heard the muffled voice of a man at the other end, and guessed her earlier question had been answered.

"Yes, he was attacked. He's okay for now, but I really need to get back to him Ria."

"Right, yeah, of course. Eli and I will head over there as soon as we can. He got attacked?"

"Yes," Gillian said sharply, more so than she'd intended. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little worried about him, and I haven't had much sleep."

"No, no, that's understandable. Okay, well, when do you think you'll be back at work? When will Lightman be back?"

"I will probably pop in within the week; Cal might be a few weeks yet. A few months even."

"I see. So Ben's going to explain everything?"

"Yes. I have to go now Ria, are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine. Do you want us taking on new cases or..."

"No, not yet. If you have spare time, you can finish sorting your office out, or use the equipment, it's up to you."

"Okay, thanks Foster. Speak soon, and I hope Cal's okay."

"Thanks-"

"Me too!" someone yelled, and then they groaned, as if they'd been hit.

"Thank you too Eli," Gillian said, smiling again. "Bye."

"Bye," Ria said, sounding disgruntled. Before Torres' cell phone could disconnect, Gillian could distinctly hear someone moaning again.

Gillian put the phone down and tried to clear her head again. Ria and Eli both knew to get to work now, and Ben had said his men had already been in touch with Heidi. Now all that was left to do was get back to Cal.

She picked her mug of now cold milk up and took it into her kitchen, pouring it away, rinsing it out and then leaving it to drain. She officially could not put off the hospital visit any longer.

~.^.~

"We're sorry ma'am, Doctor Lightman is having his dressings changed at the moment. You'll be able to visit him soon."

Gillian nodded at the young nurse who was manning the desk of the ward Cal was currently on.

"Do you know how long that might be?" she pressed.

"It's hard to say. Usually it depends on how difficult the patient is."

Three hours then, Gillian thought to herself, trying not to roll her eyes.

"Okay, thank you."

Foster turned on her heel and walked back down the corridor towards the elevators. She was stuck for what to do; hospitals weren't exactly the place to wander round aimlessly. Then again, she had no intentions of driving home again - the hospital wasn't far away from her house, but by the time she'd reached it, she would have to turn round and come straight back. She now wanted to see Cal as soon as she possibly could.

Realising she hadn't yet eaten breakfast, Gillian decided to visit the hospital canteen; her hopes weren't high, but hospital food was generally worse for the patients than it was for the visitors. Besides, she could tuck herself away in a cafeteria and not attract any odd looks.

Twenty minutes later and Foster had just finished a strawberry tart. It wasn't the best she'd ever had, but it definitely wasn't the worst. Technically, it wasn't really a breakfast item, but it was nearing ten o'clock by now, and she had the worst sweet tooth, especially when she was stressed.

That sweet tooth was why she found herself attracted to the small pot of chocolate pudding on her way back to Cal's room. It was sat there by itself amongst the pots of yoghurt, calling her, and she reasoned that it was tiny, and probably lonely.

It was paid for and eaten before she'd even reached the elevators again.

When she reached Cal's ward again, she was relieved to hear that he was now available for visitors. As she walked into his room, she almost laughed at the disgruntled look on his face.

"Being stubborn as usual?" she asked, smiling as he huffed something to himself.

"Oh, hey," he said, his face clearing as she walked in the room. "And no, I'm never stubborn."

"Yeah, right. I wasn't born yesterday," she said, sitting down in the chair next to him again.

"Not with those wrinkles anyway," he grinned, winking at her.

"You know, most people would be calmer and nicer after having survived being shot."

"You mean boring?"

"No, I mean... well, you haven't changed one bit, is what I'm saying."

"Did you want me to change?" he asked, looking serious for a moment.

"I wanted to know you were aware of how close we were to losing you," Gillian replied.

"Nah, come off it. I was never going anywhere."

"Cal, you can't pretend you're superhuman forever. Last night could have killed you, and it's a miracle you're alive and as well as this. You're so flippant about it all."

"I'm not," he said, looking away. "I know what happened."

"Then why are you not taking it seriously?" she sighed.

"Because you're worried enough. You think I want to add to your stress by moaning to you about how terrified I was? How scared I still am? I mean, someone tried to shoot me Gillian. I'm going nuts inside. But if I go crazy, what the hell are you going to do?"

There was a long pause between the two friends; for once, neither of them knew what to say. Gillian rarely got annoyed like this with Cal; Cal rarely shared his feelings so openly.

"So, you understand? You're acknowledging the threat posed to the group now?"

"Foster, I started acknowledging it the moment you got harmed darling."

"What about Eli? He got harmed, and you still didn't believe him."

"I know, and I feel bad about that, but that could've been a regular attack on the street. Throwing a brick through a window with a message attached to it is a little more specific."

"So you do feel bad?"

"Bloody hell Foster, I feel awful, but it's not as if I've gotten off lightly. I've paid the price for it, and I'll believe you all next time."

"You're right," she said, breathing deeply and patting his hand. He took it and squeezed it a little for reassurance. "I'm sorry, you're right."

"Well, my apologies for yelling."

"Cal, you were hardly yelling," she smiled.

"It bloody felt like it," he said, rolling his eyes. "Now, are we alright?"

"Of course we are," Gillian said, raising her eyebrows. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well we don't argue like that very often."

"No, we don't, but it was necessary wasn't it? Now we can both move on; I know that you've actually accepted the danger you're in and you know..."

She paused, wondering what he'd actually found out.

"That you were angry at me, that you were scared, and that you had chocolate pudding this morning," he finished.

"Firstly, I was not angry-"

"Yes, you were."

"Okay, I was a little, but not much. Secondly, I wasn't scared-"

"Reynolds said you a nightmare."

"For god's sake Cal!" she cried, snatching her hand away from where it remained in his.

"What?" he asked, looking confused.

"I didn't have a...why would you bring that up?" she asked, trying to avoid looking at him.

"I was wondering if you were alright," he replied, still looked befuddled.

"I'm fine," she snapped.

"You seem it," he said, looking at her and shaking his head. "What did I say?"

"Nothing," she muttered, trying to calm herself down. "Nothing. Don't worry. I'm sorry."

The truth was, Gillian had been trying not to think about her nightmare, partly because of what it was about, and partly because of how it had ended. It was scaring her, because she knew that even though it was all a dream, that last part had seemed too real, and she wasn't ready to go there just yet.

"Well, I'm worried," Cal stated, tentatively reaching his hand out for hers again.

She took it and absentmindedly ran her thumb over it, trying to relax.

"Don't," she said eventually, smiling at him.

"If you say so," he said slowly. Cal didn't like knowing that there was something wrong, but he also knew when she didn't want to talk about things. "Well, you haven't addressed the third point."

"The third point?"

"You and your bloody chocolate pudding."

"Oh yes, how did you know I'd had some?" she wondered.

"Come here," he said, motioning for her to get a little closer to him.

She ducked her head closer to his and quickly he lifted his hand to the side of her mouth, touching her skin delicately with his finger. As he withdrew it, he showed her the little blob of chocolate on the end of his pinky.

"Oh," she said, blushing.

"What I don't get is, why you insist on eating it so early in the morning," Cal said, lifting his finger to his mouth and licking off the chocolate. "I mean, yes it's good, and don't tell the nurse I just did that, but I prefer it at least after dinner, if not at teatime."

"Cal, I can't believe you just did that," she said, half smiling, half confused.

"Well you don't want it back from me do you?" he said. "I mean, who knows where this finger has been?"

"That's so inappropriate," she said, shaking her head.

"I meant I'm in a hospital with stuff all around me. Could have picked up anything. What did you think I meant love?"

She narrowed her eyes at him as he smiled back at her, giving her another wink.

"When do you think you'll be out?" Gillian asked, changing the subject.

"Doctors reckon I'll be alright to go in a few weeks. They're already amazed at how lucky I was for the bullet to hit no vital organs, and how quickly I've recovered so far, so they don't think I'll be here long."

"And you'll have to go home and rest for a few weeks after that?"

"They said I had to stay in bed for a few weeks," he said, looking thoughtful. "Said I had to take it easy. Then I'd be right as rain...almost."

"What about Emily? She comes back in a few weeks."

Cal paused there. He'd already considered the issue of his daughter coming back from her stay with her mom. Obviously he was desperate to have her back, but he didn't want her back at the same time; she'd worry about him, just like Gillian, and really, one was enough. Also, he knew she'd be scared, and he didn't want to subject her to that. He'd already made plans therefore, but he didn't know if Gillian would approve.

"I already called Zoe and filled her in on it all. She's going to keep Emily for a few weeks longer."

"When did you do that?" Gillian asked.

"This morning, after you'd gone. You brought some sense back into my life darling, so I thought I'd get on with the boring stuff before you got back."

"So, what did Zoe say?"

"She was a little worried, obviously, but not much. She knew I was a trooper," he teased, smirking at Gillian. "And she said Em can stay for as long as I need her to. She hasn't got another case for a month, so it's not like Em is being left by herself for ages."

"Oh good. And what did Emily say? I should imagine she was terrified - I can just imagine her...oh Cal, you didn't tell her?" she said exasperatedly, noting his facial expression.

"Well what good would it have done? 'Hi darling, I've been shot by a madman who's out to attack my company, but I want you staying there so you can just worry about me.'"

"Well, no, not necessarily that, but there will be hell to pay if she finds out you wouldn't tell her."

"I'll deal with that if it comes to it," he said firmly.

"Fine. I won't be around to help you though."

~.^.~

It hadn't even been two weeks before Cal found himself sat at home with Gillian staring at him anxiously.

"Please stop looking at me like that," he groaned, slouching into his couch further and closing his eyes.

"I don't think they should have let you out yet," Gillian stated. "Look at you. You're pale, you're sweating-"

"You just made me climb the stairs and have a shower," he said, glaring at her. "No wonder I'm sweating."

"And it made you feel better, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but apparently it hasn't done much for my appearance."

"That can't be helped at the best of times Cal."

"Kick a man while he's down," Cal muttered to himself while Gillian smiled.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked.

"Go to work," he replied.

"What do you want to do now?" she repeated.

"Go to work."

"Cal."

"Foster."

"I'm not taking you to work."

"Why not?"

"The doctors said you had to rest."

"Yeah, exactly. In what part of that sentence do you hear the phrase 'don't go to work'?"

"I don't know, in the 'rest' part maybe?"

"Look love, you're either going to drive me to work or I'll get Ria to, and she wants a new laptop, so it wouldn't be too hard to persuade her."

Gillian considered it for a moment.

"Fine, I will drive you there, but I'm bringing you straight back. You may check up on how things are, and then you will go."

"Well, that might take a while, considering it's only been run by Loker and Torres over the past few weeks."

"I've been popping in and out," Gillian said. "And it's ticking along just fine. You should give them more credit."

"I'll believe it when I see it. Come on then."

"Do you want the wheelchair?" Gillian asked, standing up to go and fetch it.

"No," he said resolutely.

"You're so stubborn," she said, glaring at him.

"I know, that's why you love me. Can you just help me to the car?"

Gillian walked back over and extended a hand out for Cal. She knew he wouldn't want to be wheeled around, and the only way they'd gotten him home like that was because he'd been drugged up, but now they'd worn off and he was determined not to appear weak. Typical Cal.

The truth was though, he could barely walk right now; the slightest movement caused him pain from his stomach, and Gillian could tell how much it was hurting him by the fierce grip he had on her hand right now. God forbid Cal should show his true feelings though.

Carefully Gillian helped Cal walk out to the car. He kept wincing, and every time he did so, Gillian rolled her eyes, but she knew he was determined to do this, so she was just going to humour him. Knowing Cal, he probably had some crackpot plan in his head, and it was usually best just to humour him.

And Cal did have a plan.

The car journey there, though short, seemed to last a lifetime.

Cal wouldn't stop moaning about the pain he was in, which led Gillian to snap at him about how he should be at home in bed, which led Cal to argue that the doctors had said nothing about staying at home and resting, which led to a very disgruntled pair of business partners entering their building.

"Oh, hello there Mr Lightman," Heidi said, smiling at the two of them as Gillian helped Cal shuffle his way in. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"He's not," said Gillian shortly, while Cal gave her a thumbs up.

Heidi smiled to herself and continued with her work, which left Cal and Gillian to face Loker and Torres who'd just rounded the corner.

"He returns," Eli said.

"I see you've become even more intelligent in my absence," Cal said. "Nice to see you both. Hooked up yet?"

"Excuse me?" said Ria.

"Well, when big events like this happen, it gives people an excuse to get together without many questions being asked. Comfort and all that. So?"

"We could probably have this discussion later," Gillian said, coming to their rescue. "Are we going to your office?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Oh," Ria began. "The weirdest delivery arrived yesterday - I was about to send the man away, but then Reynolds called and told me to make them put it in your office, so it's there, and it's not positioned very well, but-"

"Got it love. Cheers."

"What's going on?" Gillian asked.

"Nothing," Cal said, grinning at her. "Can you go grab the file that's on the desk next to all the voice equipment? I left it there that night, and obviously, I haven't yet had chance to retrieve it."

"Oh, we cleaned everything up," Loker said, looking shifty. "So it's probably been moved."

"Great," Cal said, rolling his eyes. "Alright, Torres, Foster, go find me that file. Loker, take over from Foster; this is a bloody long corridor at times."

Gillian shook her head but followed Ria to another office, where they kept all of the cases that hadn't yet been closed or solved. There weren't many, but if they didn't have this room, they'd be left with Cal, and he had a tendency to find flaws in cases and reopen them all over again if he was left with the files. It was easier just to keep them away from him.

Fifteen minutes later, Gillian entered Cal's office with the file in her hand. This wasn't the first time she'd been back since the shooting; she'd been in a few days earlier, to ensure it was all in good order after the FBI had finished with it. Thankfully there was no stain on the floor to remind them all.

"I have what you want," she called, walking into his office and waving it in the air. "What do you want... what the hell is going on?"

"Alright love?"

"Cal, since when was there a bed in your office?" she asked, bemused.

"Well, the doctor said get some rest, but he never said at home. Well, he didn't specify. And I hate leaving you lot to run the place."

Gillian stared at her business partner, tucked up in the rather comfortable looking bed that faced the door of his office. He smiled at her, and held his hand out for the file.

"Oh, will you grab my laptop as well please?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know it's been a while, I'm so sorry; I made this chapter super long to make up for it. Hopefully I won't take as long to write the next chapter - I was suffering from a bit of writer's block, which sucks. Hope everyone liked this chapter - no cliffhanger, a bit of fluff. It was pretty nice! Just a note - in my world, visiting hours in hospitals just don't exist. They annoy me, and get in the way. Humour me. Also, I promised a reviewer that I'd put more Eli into this story, but I'm failing a little on that count, simply because the story is centred around Cal and Gillian. Therefore, I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in an outtake of what happened at Eli's the night Cal got shot? It would be totally fluffy and adorable but funny at the same time; let me know if it'd tickle your pickle. Sorry for the mammoth author's note, thanks for reading! Reviews are much appreciated. Also, sorry if there are any mistakes in this chapter - I have stuff to do, but it was written and I wanted to get it out there. I'll proof read again tomorrow, and fix anything!  
><strong>


	10. Discussions

**A/N: ****Hello, long time no speak. I'm hoping I'll be able to update a little faster in the future; this chapter was a little hard to write, for some reason, but once I got into the massive chunk of dialogue between Cal and Gillian, it worked out okay. I know not much happened in this chapter, but there will be more drama in the next, I promise! Thank you for reading, your reviews are much appreciated.**

* * *

><p><span>10. Discussions<span>

"How's the bed?" Gillian asked dryly as she wandered into Cal's office.

It had been three days since he'd been let out from the hospital, and since that first afternoon, he'd only left the bed in his office to go home at night, and to wander over to the bathroom located a few metres away.

"Marvellous thanks darling," he grinned. "Want to come and try it out with me?"

"Hilarious Cal," she said, rolling her eyes.

"It's very comfortable, and those other two muppets are out on their lunch break," he said slowly, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"Cal, some of us have work to do," she sighed, wishing he'd drop the constant flirting. It was making her head spin with confusion.

"I can do work too," he said indignantly, going to swing his legs out of the bed; as much as he enjoyed being able to observe everything going on in his business, he hated feeling useless, and he'd never felt more useless than he had over the past few days.

In trying to move though, he jarred his torso, which immediately sent pain shooting throughout the entire top half of his body. For a second, Cal was overwhelmed with it all, and panicked that he would pass out, but it eventually disappeared, and he was left in an awkward position with Gillian looking at him, unimpressed and with a raised eyebrow.

Damn.

"What?" he grunted as he tried to hoist himself back up on to the bed.

"Oh, nothing," she said. "Just you being you."

"And what is that meant to mean?"

"It means that yet again, you're trying to do things that you physically cannot do. Now I'll accept your stubbornness, because that's just you, and I'll let you have this ridiculous bed in your office, because I know how you hate feeling like you have nothing to do, but I refuse to watch you hurt yourself for no reason at all."

"There was a reason," he said, glaring at her. "I was trying to do some work."

"Cal, you can't do any work yet," she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "You need to realise that you are not superhuman, and you cannot do everything. You got shot recently Cal. Shot. You could have died. How the hell do you expect yourself to be ready for normal life after that?"

"Very easily, thanks," he said tightly.

"Then you're wrong Cal, and you're an idiot. Please just accept the fact that it's going to take you a few weeks to recover. No one is expecting you to bounce back to the way you were before instantly."

"I am."

"Well that's because you've always refused to see what everyone else can, and this time, it's concerning your health. It's time you stepped back and stopped trying to be a hero; despite how much of an arrogant, annoying, irritating, egotistical-"

"Foster."

"-aggravating, infuriating, frustrating, exasperating-"

"Foster."

"-obnoxious, stupid, selfish-"

"Bloody hell love, don't hold back," he interrupted, looking genuinely hurt.

She frowned. Perhaps that had been a little bit far.

"Okay, despite how much of an idiot you are at times...all the time even, unbelievably, we all still care about you, and none of us want to see you in unbearable pain for absolutely no reason."

"So you want me to stay in bed?"

"Yes," she sighed, thankful that for once, he'd taken what she'd said on board.

"But I feel so useless here Gillian," he said quietly, shaking his head.

He looked up at her, and she could see the tired, defeated look in his eyes. He'd been defeated by himself, and that was the problem.

"I know you do Cal," she said softly, moving closer to him and laying a hand on his arm. "But none of us see you as useless. In fact, I think you've gone up even higher in Loker's estimation, considering you're back at work so quickly."

"Great, bloody Loker," Cal muttered.

Gillian rolled her eyes, but as Cal settled back down into his bed, leaning against the various pillows and cushions he'd demanded over the last few weeks, she knew her work was done.

"Oh Cal," she said, going to wander away then changing her mind. "Did you want me to bring your painkillers over?"

"No, don't worry about it love," he said, waving a hand away.

"What, have you already had them?"

"Yeah," he said.

Gillian paused, then folded her arms.

"Cal, we work in a lie detection firm, and you know that I can read you like a book. Why on earth would you try to fool me?"

Cal flinched away from her tone. The eyebrow had been raised again, and it always scared the living daylights out of him.

"Do you really find me exasperating?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Without a shadow of a doubt," she answered, rolling her eyes. "Let me give you an example - when you don't take your prescribed painkillers because you're trying to be all brave and strong."

"I don't like taking them," he huffed. "And I am trying to be brave and strong. So shoot me."

"Cal," she said quickly, drawing a sudden breath.

"Okay, okay, wrong choice of words," he said, backtracking hastily. "But seriously, tell me what the problem is with me trying to prove I'm okay?"

"The problem is that you're not okay," she sighed. "I mean, who do you even need to prove this to?"

"Torres. Loker. Me. You."

"You don't need to prove anything to me. I don't need you to look after me all the time," she said defensively, folding her arms.

"But you need me most of the time," he pointed out, re-adjusting himself amongst the pillows and folding his fingers together.

"According to who?" she snorted.

"According to me, and the you that was stood in my office a few weeks ago crying about her loser of an ex husband."

"Don't talk about Alec like that," she said, her eyes flashing.

"That's my opinion of him, so I shall talk about him like that. Besides, it's true, and even you know it Gillian, so don't deny it."

"And what if I told you Alec and I were getting back together? Would your opinion change?"

"Are you?"

"Answer my question."

"Answer mine."

"I asked first."

"Alright, no. Once an idiot, always an idiot in my book."

"So I can count on you to still be this way in fifty years' time?" Gillian asked smoothly.

"You're still going to be talking to me in fifty years' time?" Cal countered.

"Do you not want me to?"

"I never said that."

"Well, I didn't either."

"Never said you did. Stop putting words into my mouth love."

"In answer to your question, no."

"No what? You're not going to have anything to do with me fifty years from now?"

Gillian couldn't help noticing the crestfallen expression on Cal's face, and Cal couldn't help noticing the panic in Gillian's eyes.

"No!"

"Well, thanks a lot darling."

"No, I mean, of course I'll still want to be with you in fifty years' time."

"Be with me?"

"As in, be friends. With you. Being friends, with you."

"Right. So what question are you answering no with?"

"Alec."

"What about him?"

"I'm not getting back together with him."

"Well then why the bloody hell would you use it as an example. Got me worried."

"Worried about what?"

"About the fact you'd no longer be available."

"Would that be a problem?"

"No, not at all. Of course not. You can date who the bloody hell you want to darling. Provided it's not Alec."

"Well, it won't be Alec."

"Good."

"It's probably going to be no one."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Ignore what I'm saying. It's the influence of the drugs."

"Cal you just this second said that you hadn't taken any today."

"Ever intelligent. Knew there was a reason why I was attracted to you."

"Attracted to me?"

"For the job. Attracted to you for the job, as in, your intelligence attracted me to you, and therefore I wanted to go into business with you."

"Right. Okay."

"Okay."

"I'm going to grab some files."

"See you in a bit love."

"Bye."

Gillian hurried out of the room, flushing furiously and Cal collapsed into his bed, feeling more exhausted than he had in weeks.

"Bloody hell," he muttered.

~.^.~

Gillian sat in her office, rubbing her temples and trying to calm down somewhat. Her heart was racing, for no apparent reason. Well, the reason was Cal, but there had been nothing said that should've made her heart race.

Apart from the disappointment when he'd believed she didn't want to stay close to him.

That, and he'd almost told her he was attracted to her.

Could it be true? Was that just a slip of the tongue, Cal's unconscious feeling escaping momentarily? She'd certainly like to believe it. It would make her head an easier place to inhabit right now.

At the moment, her mind was in a whirlwind. For some strange reason, her horrible nightmare was still pestering her, and it was getting harder to ignore the reason why.

Was it possible she did love Cal? A part of her had always loved him, even when she was with Alec, but that had been the love she held for a best friend, coupled with the natural chemistry between business partners and friends.

It had never occurred to her that it would possibly be something more until now, and Cal's words today were making her think that Cal felt that something more as well, and that was completely and utterly the wrong thing to be thinking about. At best, Cal felt that way without realising it yet. At worst, Gillian was setting herself up for a mass of heartbreak, if she was entertaining the idea that she and Cal could perhaps be something one day.

How confusing.

But it was Cal, for Christ's sake.

It would be better for everyone in the long run if she could just forget her dream and move on, leaving hers and Cal's relationship purely that of a friendly and businesslike nature.

Because life was just that easy.

~.^.~

Cal groaned as Ria knocked on his door.

"Gee, thanks Lightman," she said, fixing him with the same raised eyebrow as Gillian.

"Can't you women give me five bloody minutes to myself?" he said, shaking his head.

Truth be told, he was reeling from the conversation he and Foster had just had, and he'd wanted just a few seconds of peace to run it over in his head, and hopefully over analyse it to the point of insanity. Just to be in keeping with his usual ways.

"No," she replied, wandering into his office. "It's just part of our nature."

"What do you want then Torres darling? Need some relationship advice regarding Loker?"

"No, thank you. I need no advice, because I'm perfectly happy with where we stand, and even if I did, I wouldn't come to you."

"That's nice. So what do you want?"

"Wanted to see if you were doing okay," she said shiftily.

"Pull the other one darling. You don't give two flying farts about me and my good health. What's bugging you love?"

She chewed and her lip, and then looked up at him, her eyes unusually wide and sad. It wasn't often she displayed the softer side of her.

"Well, I told you to go die, the night you were shot," she whispered.

Cal blinked and looked at his employee, looked at the guilt written all over her face, and felt pity for the girl. He knew how difficult it was for someone like Torres to come and apologise to someone like him, and he decided that for once, he wouldn't torture her with it.

"Am I dead?" he asked her.

"Well, no, thank-"

"Then there's really no problem is there," he grinned.

"Lightman," she said, fixing him with a serious face. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are love, I can see it in the way you're looking at me, the way you're stood, the way you ambled into my office. But it's okay. We all say stuff in the heat of the moment, and you can bet for every time you've said something like that, I've said ten times as many stupid things."

"It was an idiotic thing to say though."

"It was indeed. That's why I've been trying to warn you off Loker, because I can see that he's having a bad influence on you."

"You've been trying to set us up since you hired me!" she spluttered, regaining her anger at Cal back immediately.

"I know," he laughed. "I know. Bloody hilarious."

"So we're cool?"

"We're cool Ria," Cal said in a kind voice, one he only reserved for extreme situations. "But if your threats start coming true, don't say it again."

"Got it," she said, smiling in spite of herself.

"Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't you come to me for relationship advice?" he asked, glaring at her.

"Because you can't even deal with your own love life, let alone someone else's."

"I don't have a love life."

"Exactly."

"Should I?"

"Well only you can make that decision, but pretty much everyone thinks you should."

"With who?" he asked.

"Really Lightman? Are you blind?" she asked, rolling her eyes and then walking away.

"Oi! Wait," he yelled. "Who do you mean?"

Gillian tutted at him as she wandered into his office, replacing Ria's presence.

"Yelling like that won't do you much good," she said with a slight smile. She had composed herself enough to be able to come into Cal's room and not do anything stupid. "So, who does she mean?"

"Not a bloody clue," he sighed. "Anyway, what do you want?"

"Well isn't that charming," she said. "I came to force you to take your painkillers."

"What if I don't want to?"

"You have absolutely no choice in the matter. Besides, I think you will."

"Why?"

"The drugs knock you for six, and you're not going to want to be fully with it for a few hours."

"Why, what's happening?" he asked, worried.

"Reynolds is coming over to begin the formal investigation into your attack. I've put him off for as long as possible, but he has no more time to spare. Sorry Cal."

His eyes briefly widened then he composed himself and nodded gravely.


	11. Investigation

**A/N: Long time, no speak again. I've missed ff quite considerably; two weeks without my laptop has been torturous. Still, I'm back now, and got this written as soon as possible for you! Apologies that it's not too long, but not much was planned for this chapter, and I feel I dragged it out as much as I could... Blah, I didn't realise how dialogue heavy it was though, sorry. Thank you for sticking with this story still, I know it's been a while since an update. Reviews are welcomed and loved, thank you for reading!**

* * *

><p><span>11. Investigation<span>

"So run it past me again-"

"For the third bloody time you mean?"

"Cal," Gillian hissed, sounding like an angry mother.

"Yes, for the third time," Ben Reynolds said to Cal, glaring at him.

"Alright, alright," said Cal defensively.

Truth be told, Cal wasn't completely lucid right now; Gillian hadn't been wrong about the drugs. Still, it was easier to feel drunk right now than to feel sober. The session so far hadn't been great, and everyone knew Cal would be even more irritable if he wasn't under the influence of anything.

"You definitely did not see the man?" Reynolds asked.

"For the third bl-"

Gillian nudged him on the arm and Cal rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I definitely did not see the man."

"And you're sure that it was a man?"

"Well it was either a man or the woman who lives two doors down from me."

"Excuse me?" Ben asked, looking confused.

"Deepest voice I've ever heard. Chest as flat as an ironing board and I'm sure I spotted the makings of a hairy chin the other day."

"Cal," Gillian sighed in a frustrated way, while Reynolds rolled his eyes.

"Jesus, sorry, it was definitely a man," Cal huffed.

"Why is it that with every other case we've ever worked on together, you've been professional, and yet now, you're screwing around?" Ben asked. "Get with it Cal, help me out a bit."

"Well until now, it wasn't about me was it?" said Cal, shrugging.

"Though you try your hardest to make it about you," Gillian muttered under her breath.

Ben almost smiled, but Cal missed the comment completely, and glanced at his partner, annoyed. He didn't need to have heard it to know it was bad; Foster only ever groaned about him when he couldn't hear.

"Well, can you cut me some slack and do this properly?" Reynolds asked, turning his attention back to Cal.

"Yeah I suppose," Cal said, waving a head. "I guess the sooner I answer questions, this'll be done with."

"Exactly," said Reynolds. "Sooner I'll be able to go as well."

"What's wrong with us?" asked Cal, affronted.

"Well it's not Foster so much..."

"Fine, I'll rephrase. What's wrong with me?"

"Well for a start, I never thought I'd have a conversation with you while you were in bed," said Reynolds.

"Well it's not like I'm in my bloody bedroom and you're snuggled up next to me is it?"

"It's still quite odd."

"Well look who's being professional now," said Cal. "Gillian will you open a bloody window or something, I'm roasting here."

"Of course," she said, smiling sweetly at him.

"Don't pull a face as you turn your back," Cal called, frowning.

"Too late," she answered as she searched for the key to the office windows.

"Can we get back to the questions?" Reynolds asked, sounding desperate.

"Yeah, so he was definitely male," Cal said, turning back to Ben.

"And you thought he sounded familiar?"

"Yeah," Cal said, knitting his eyebrows together.

This was something that had been bugging him for a while. He was almost certain that he'd heard the voice before, but quite frankly, he had no idea where. It was more than probable that it may have been someone he'd dealt with in the past, but that meant trying to figure out who had a vendetta against him, and that would probably take years just to make a shortlist; Cal wasn't known for his friend making skills.

"Well, as there's not much more I can ask you right now, I'm going to head back and file everything you've said today," said Reynolds, making as if to stand up. "If you think of anything else though, give me a call."

"Yeah, will do mate," Cal said, extending a hand to Ben. "Sorry I've been a bit arsey today."

"A bit?"

"Alright, a lot," Cal said, smirking as Ben shook his hand.

"It's fine, I know how frustrated you must be. Not having a clue who it was."

"Well, I have a clue, but it's a bit vague," said Cal.

"What?" Gillian and Ben asked in unison, Gillian reappearing next to Cal.

"If I've heard the voice before and the person wants me dead, it makes sense it was someone I crossed in my time," began Cal.

"Well that narrows it down to just about everyone doesn't it," said Gillian rolling her eyes.

"Thanks Foster," said Cal. "No, I meant, it might be someone involved with one of our cases. It's all I've got at the moment, but at least that'd give us something to go on."

"That's not a bad idea," Ben said. "I'll let you get to work on that though; I presume you have all the files here. Again, call me if you find anything."

"Will do, cheers," said Cal.

"Bye," Ben said, nodding his head at Gillian and then leaving the room.

Foster sat down next to Cal and fixed him with a glare.

"What?" he asked defensively, glaring back. It didn't help that he was sat in a bed, propped up by a load of pillows while Gillian could move around easily, automatically making her more intimidating.

"What is wrong with you today?" she asked, shaking her head.

"I think I'm just tired love," he said, shaking his head. "Sorry. I think it's those bloody pills."

"How convenient," she said dryly.

Cal cocked his head at her, narrowing his eyes.

"I was being serious," he said.

"Well that makes a change."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You behaved like an overgrown child the whole time Reynolds was here."

"Apologies love. Sorry I didn't make it easier on everyone else. I was having the time of my life after all, reliving that night. Bloody highlight of my day."

Gillian flinched, looking hurt at his sarcastic comment.

He glanced away, feeling annoyed with both her and himself.

"Sorry," he muttered.

She shook her head, but looked down at her hands anyway.

"Foster?"

Slowly she looked back up at him. His eyes were full of apologies now, guilt at making her feel bad for no reason.

"Come here," he said, holding his arms out.

She gave him an awkward hug, surprised at how much better it made her feel.

"I am sorry," he whispered to her as she was close to him.

"I know, I am too," she said as she straightened out. "Let's get down to business then shall we?"

"Business?" Cal asked weakly.

"Trying to figure out who it was that night," she responded. "We're going to dig up all the files we've worked on where a crazy male hasn't left being your best friend."

"Well, good luck with that," he said shiftily.

"No way," she smiled. "If you insist on coming into work, you work."

"Alright, alright," he said, defeated. "First though, are you sure you got that window open properly?"

"Pretty sure, why?" she asked frowning.

"I'm just boiling still," he said, shifting his duvet a little bit.

"Cal!" Gillian exclaimed suddenly.

"What?" he asked, nearly jumping out of his skin.

"Your arms," she said, her eyes wide.

Cal had been almost completely covered before, but now he'd moved a little bit, Gillian could see his exposed arms, arms that were bright red and blotchy.

"Told you I was hot," he shrugged.

She pressed a hand against his forehead and withdrew it quickly.

"I didn't realise how hot you were though," she said, alarmed.

"I'm fine Foster," he said, smiling to reassure her.

"I'll go and get you a glass of cold water," she said, completely ignoring him.

"Well, hang on," he said as she made for the door.

"What? What do you need?"

"Well, now that you ask," he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"Cal," she said, unimpressed.

"Just kidding love," he winked. "I just thought if you're going to get water, you may as well come back with some files."

"I suppose that's not a bad idea."

"Thank you," he said, feigning great pride.

"Any ideas at all on what I'm looking for?" she asked.

"Not really," he said, and her face fell. "But I'd look at some of the earlier cases if I were you."

"Earlier?" she asked, puzzled. "Why?"

"I just have this feeling that the voice was familiar, but one I hadn't heard in a while."

"Well, how early?"

"Well, not when we first started out. Maybe at the beginning of last year perhaps? Not too recent."

"Okay, I'll bring some of those through then," Gillian nodded, exiting the room.

Cal took the opportunity to throw the duvet off himself completely and collapsed onto the pillows completely. He didn't want to let on to Gillian just how hot he was, because he knew she'd panic. Truth was though, he was just about burning up, and that wasn't going to disappear after a glass of water.

He tried wafting a hand in front of his face to try and cool himself, but all it did was make his stomach hurt, and that was the last thing he wanted.

In the end, he decided to wander over to the window; at least that would be a source of cool air without him having to wave his hand around like a maniac.

Unfortunately, Cal had just about managed to get himself out of bed, as painlessly as possible, when Gillian arrived back, armed with case studies and a huge glass full of water.

"Why are you out of bed?" Gillian gasped as she entered.

"Felt like having a bit of a walk around," Cal said. "Needed some fresh air. Thought I'd head to the window."

"Well isn't that just a genius idea at the moment," she said icily, her tone changing in an instant. "Are you determined to do as much damage to yourself as possible?"

"No, funnily enough, I'm not a complete idiot," he said, rounding on her fiercely. For some reason, his anger was provoked easily at the moment, and he was getting tired of Gillian making him out to be some sort of invalid at the slightest thing.

"Well you could've fooled me earlier when we were with Reynolds," she retaliated.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, wondering why she was bringing this back up.

"I already told you, you were acting stupidly. I'm amazed he even stuck around," Gillian said. Now they were talking about it again, she felt like she had more to get off her chest, things that hadn't been covered in their previous conversation.

"I was doing what I wanted to actually," Cal said, getting more and more irritated. "Sorry for trying to get through it."

"Why couldn't you just be sensible though, for that one hour?"

"What? This whole bloody time, you've been telling me not to hold it all in, not to try and pretend that I'm invincible. You've been telling me that it can't all just go back to normal, and yet you seem to want it to go back to normal yourself. Newsflash love, it's not going to," Cal suddenly shouted, his anger getting the better of him.

"Excuse me? How can you possibly accuse me of that?" she yelled, equally as furious. "You're the one trying to pretend it's all okay. I'm deeply sorry for trying to reassure you that it's fine to admit weakness."

"Yeah but I'm not weak am I?" he shot back. "I've changed though Gillian, and you won't accept it. Yeah I pratted about when Reynolds was here, but that's because I didn't really fancy going through all of that again without amusing myself somewhat."

"That wasn't a time to be amused though!" she screamed. "He was trying to do a serious investigation and you just couldn't be bothered."

"Of course I could be bloody bothered, it's just not particularly fun going through it all again, so I try and cope with it, and then you get annoyed with me! I mean I can't bloody win here Gillian, you tell me not to pretend it's all okay, so I don't, I try and get through it the way I know how to, and then you go and shoot me down."

"That was a nice choice of words," she said coolly, folding her arms.

Cal opened his mouth to say something else, but he suddenly faltered, stumbling to the side and trying to catch hold of something to steady himself. His hands groped for the side of his desk but he found himself clutching air.

The room had started spinning of its own accord, while the edges of his vision had gone a little blurry.

"Cal?" Gillian asked, anger replaced by fear immediately. "Cal, what's wrong?"

She watched as his eyes rolled back into his head and then closed, but couldn't clear the few metres between them fast enough. Despite her outstretched arms, Gillian couldn't catch Cal before he crashed to the ground.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Nothing like going on a two week break from writing and then leaving the latest chapter on a cliffhanger is there? Well you all know I love them, so what were you expecting really? Hahaha. While you're here, fancy going to check out my latest venture, outtakes from Threat? There is currently only one, but I intend to add more, don't worry. So, speaking of which, if there's a scene or a point of view that's been mentioned here in the story but not been expanded on, only you really want to know what happened, let me know and I will try and write it for you if there's something there to write about! Thanks again for reading!**


	12. Reaction

**A/N: *tumbleweed sails past screen* Hello? You're still there? Wow, I wouldn't blame you if you'd completely given up on this story, given the absolutely massive time gap between this chapter and the last. Still, I'm not going to start making excuses. I'll just try not to do it again. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for sticking with me.**

* * *

><p><span>12. Reaction<span>

"This is getting bloody ridiculous now. I have never been in hospital ever if you don't count the couple times I got into a bit of trouble with those men with knives, but now, I'm in here all the time for one thing or another," Cal grumbled.

"Well at least things are a little brighter this time round," said the nurse currently fluffing up the pillows Cal was resting on in his hospital bed.

She was extremely pretty, with her big brown eyes and hair that looked so soft Cal wanted to actually touch it, to see if it was as soft as he believed. The fact that he was no longer five years old stopped him each time, as well his being a little mesmerised by her melodic voice and perfect smiles.

"How exactly are they brighter love?" Cal asked the nurse, turning on the charm.

"Well for one thing, you haven't just had a bullet put through your stomach Mr Lightman," said the other nurse in his room.

"That is Doctor Lightman to you darling, and thank you for reminding me, I had all but forgotten."

The second nurse glared at him, and Cal glared right back. He didn't like this nurse one little bit. She was at least thirty years older than the other girl tending to him, and hard as nails. The sunshine brought to his room was clouded over by this woman, and he didn't like it at all.

"That's worrying Cal, maybe you hit your head harder than we thought," said someone sarcastically from the doorway.

Well, there was the storm from the clouds.

"Foster, so nice of you to drop by," called Cal, peering round the grumpy nurse at the foot of the bed who was rolling her eyes.

His colleague was stood in the door, her arms folded, stony expression in place. She'd worn that expression the last couple times she'd visited him over the past few days; not once had she cracked a smile. That was probably because she only came to see him for five minutes at a time though - a quick update on how the hunt for his attacker was going and that was it.

They'd narrowed it down a little now, based on how long ago the case was, whether the suspect was known to own a gun, whether the suspect had a reason to hate Cal. The last point was all but useless; anyone who'd ever known Cal had a reason to want to kill him at some point or another.

"Hello Doctor Foster," smiled the pretty nurse who was now done plumping up Cal's pillows.

Foster simply raised an eyebrow at her and then nodded her head a fraction of an inch at the girl. Cal was annoyed that she wouldn't come closer to him; this had been her same reaction each time the nurse had greeted her, but though he could sense her frostiness, he couldn't quite tell what was behind it. It seemed like anger, yet Cal could see no logical reason for Gillian to be angry with the nurse.

"Looks like you'll live another day Mr Lightman," said the older nurse, finishing her checks of his charts. "Hopefully you'll be out of here soon."

"Anyone would think you don't enjoy my company love," said Cal as she left the room, the other nurse following closely behind and trying to stifle giggles. "And that is Doctor to you. Doctor Lightman."

Cal's favourite nurse glanced back at him one last time before she left the room and Cal shot her a cheeky wink. She blushed and Cal grinned at her, then she was gone and he was left with an unimpressed looking Gillian.

"You know love, you wear that expression an awful lot at the moment."

"Maybe that's because you're so insufferable at the moment Cal," she countered, walking over to where he was lying in the bed.

"Foster, in no way is it my fault that I happened to be allergic to the painkillers they put me on and collapsed as a result."

"I'm fully aware of that Lightman, rest assured."

"Then what exactly is insufferable?" he asked, trying to read her as she just stared coldly at him.

"Cal, I don't want an argument in the hospital," she hissed in response.

"At what point did I say that was what I wanted?"

"I think we both know that at the moment, every conversation we ever have ends with some sort of dispute between the two of us."

"I reckon if we really tried, we could have a civil conversation," laughed Cal.

"Well I'm all out of civil conversation, so I'll just stick to what I was planning to tell you," she said wearily, having no desires to converse with Cal right now. "Loker wanted me to tell you that he thinks we may have your man. Ria did some digging today and they're going to try and track this guy down tomorrow."

"Okay," Cal nodded, understanding that he needed to show appreciation at this point. He really was grateful for all the work his team was doing to help him solve this mystery but the first time Gillian had given him an update, he'd cracked a joke.

That had been a bad move.

"Anything you want me to pass on to them?"

"Just tell them I said thanks," said Cal, nodding. "And Gill, I need to thank you too. I know you're working hard too."

She looked at him for a moment and then shook her head, flicking her hair out of her face in a way that suggested to Cal she was hiding something and was afraid he'd find out.

"It's nothing Cal," she said, trying to pass the gesture off as a shrug. "I'm just doing my job."

"I know," he nodded, curious as to what she was really thinking right now. "Doesn't mean I can't be grateful though."

"True," she replied, barely making eye contact with him. "Would you like anything else before I go?"

"Leaving so soon?"

"Someone needs to run the business Cal," she sighed, and he detected the weariness again.

"You got here ten minutes ago darling. If Loker and Torres can't run things for an hour max, why have we hired them?"

"Did you want me to stay then?" she asked, sounding reluctant to do so.

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Why?" she asked.

"Why?" he asked incredulously, his eyebrows knitting together. "Because you're my closest friend Foster, and I'm stuck here with no company."

"Cal, I don't have time to merely provide some entertainment for you. I'm sure your little brunette nurse will happily oblige."

It was fleeting, but Cal caught it. The slight flaring of Gillian's nostrils as she mentioned the nurse, the way her hands slightly tensed as if she wanted to ball them into fists.

She was jealous and they both knew it. Still, if Cal called her out on it, she'd tear him to pieces and probably never speak to him again. It was easier to shut up sometimes, as difficult for him as it was. Only for Gillian Foster would he keep his opinions to himself.

"I don't require entertainment Foster," he replied, keeping her emotions to himself. "But I would like to talk to you."

"About anything in particular?" she asked, edging a little closer to his bed. She still hadn't sat down; she hadn't once sat down over the past few visits she'd afforded him.

"Yeah actually love. I want to talk to you about this little problem you've got with me."

"I'd hardly call it little," she said coldly, looking past his head at the wall behind.

"Damn it Gillian! Look at me," he yelled at her, his sudden frustrated outburst startling the both of them.

"What?" she asked, slowly turning to stare straight into his eyes, unblinking. Her eyes were depthless; they currently held nothing. Not even fury for Cal. Nothing.

"I'm sick of this," Cal huffed, figuring he'd already made a hash of things, so it was in his best interests to at least justify himself.

"Sick of what?"

"All this attitude you have at the moment. Clearly you're not happy with me but I don't know what I've done and you're not giving too much away."

"You're not trying to read me Cal?" she sneered.

"Yeah I am actually. I can see the anger, obviously, and I can see the jealousy, but I don't have a clue why, and you've got to help me out."

"Jealousy?" she spluttered.

"Yeah, jealousy. When that damn nurse comes in, you look like you want to kill her for a second."

"Wow Cal. I knew your ego was big but this is really something else."

"No Gillian, don't avoid this again," he said, raising his voice again. "You can't come and see me in here but be off with me. Either try to look as if you give a damn about me or don't bother coming at all."

Cal shook his head, at both his choice of words and the entire situation. Things were not supposed to be like this at all. Gillian shouldn't be angry at him, he shouldn't be angry with her, and she definitely shouldn't have eyes that looked like tears might spill over at any moment.

"You're unbelievable Cal," she said with a shaky voice.

"Tell me what I'm supposed to do Gillian," he said wearily. "I'm not a bloody mind reader, I need to know what's going on."

"What's going on? I am absolutely tired out. I'm running our company by myself, with my two best employees all tied up on your case. Cal I don't begrudge you that at all," she said when he went to interrupt. "I just don't think you appreciate how difficult it is at the moment. I'm working twelve hour days just to keep everything afloat, I'm stressed out as it is, Alec's still bothering me and all I want to do is check my best friend is alright, but every time, I'm just greeted with sarcasm Cal. I'm fed up of it."

She took a deep breath and finally sank into the visitor's chair next to his bed, looking at him. He could see the tiredness in her eyes. She could see the apologies in his.

"Gill-"

"Don't," she said waving a hand at him. "It's all just been on my mind for a few weeks, and I needed to let it out. I'm sorry."

Cal frowned.

"A few weeks?" he asked after a pause.

"Yes."

"I haven't been in here for a few weeks."

"I'm well aware of that Cal," Gillian said tetchily. "In case you hadn't realised, you've been a nightmare of a patient ever since you came out the first time."

Cal raised his eyebrows at her, stunned at her words.

"A nightmare of a patient?"

"Yes. You've insisted on having a damn bed put in your office so you can keep an eye on things, when all you actually do is just hinder us doing our jobs, which is why we're probably all so tired at the moment, while you're just revelling in bossing us all around, because none of us can argue back, because the reason you're there is that you nearly died."

She took another deep breath and Cal got the feeling she'd wanted to say most of this for quite some time now. He wasn't having it though. Some of what she was accusing him of was completely unfair.

"You think I revel in bossing you around?" Cal asked, disbelief in his voice.

"Yes, and you love the power trips you get when you refuse to do something one of us asks you to."

"If you're referring to a certain time in particular..."

"I'm not Cal! I'm referring to every single part of the last few weeks. I was absolutely terrified that I was going to lose you a month or so ago Cal. I have never been so scared in my entire life. And when we get you back, when you return to work, you repay me by behaving like a small child when it comes to things like your health and finding out who did this. Can you blame me for being irritated by now?"

"No one asked you to be so over protective of me," Cal snapped. "But if I'm that much of a nightmare to look after, I'll leave it. When they discharge me from here, I'll go home and I'll stay there until I'm ready to come back to work. I'd hate to hinder you further Gillian."

"Over protective? I was worried Cal," she said, shaking her head. "But that's fine. Go home, and I'll see you back at work when you're ready. I think that's probably easiest for everyone."

"I think it probably is."

"See you soon then," she said abruptly, standing up and nodding coldly at him. "I'm really pleased I came to see you today."

"Yeah I'm pleased too, love. Make sure you stop by again, I can't think of anything I enjoy more than spending time with you right now."

Gillian didn't even dignify what he said with a response; she simply gave him a withering look and strutted out of his hospital room, trying to maintain a brave face.

As soon as she'd gone, Cal sighed.

As soon as she rounded the corner, Gillian sighed.

This whole thing was absolutely bloody ridiculous, and he knew it.

This whole thing was completely mad, and she knew it.

Gillian reached a hand up to catch the tear about to fall down her cheek, while Cal sank back into his pillows and tried to make sense of what had just transpired.

He'd seen the jealousy, the anger, the hurt when he'd called her over protective. Had he over stepped the line? Said something worse than usual? He couldn't see what he might have said, but something was eating away at her, and she was blocking him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

There was a tiny new ache in his heart though, not dissimilar to the one he felt whenever Emily left him for an extended period of time. He couldn't identify its cause, but he knew it meant something, and he had a feeling it meant he'd just made a huge mistake.

She knew that he'd seen everything she was feeling. In those fleeting moments when her guard had slipped and he'd been able to read her, she knew he'd seen every emotion that was running through her. She also knew though, that Cal wouldn't know what to make of it. It was so out of the blue, so unbelievable, so unlike Gillian Foster, that he'd never guess. The argument they'd just had would put paid to any ideas anyway.

That damn argument. Gillian could not understand her and Cal; she found it so easy to pick flaws in him, to irritate him, to be irritated by him, to insult him, to hurt him where she knew it would hurt. She could not understand how she could now safely say that she was falling in love with Cal Lightman, and fast.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So that's that. Yeah, I'm rambling on a little more here. I know this chapter wasn't the longest, but I didn't think it was half bad, and I mean, it was quite dramatic at the end there. So yeah... I can only apologise. What makes it worse is that I left the last chapter on a rather large cliffhanger. I feel bad, I mean it. I promise you though, that this story has not been forgotten. I've got it all planned out, it's all taking shape nicely and we have a bit longer to go yet; it's all good. I'd been trying to get back to writing this for a while, and then I went to check my traffic (because I have a new story up! If you're a Twilight fan, please go and check it out, I promise it'll be a good read.) and I saw most of my hits were still for this story! So thanks for not giving up with it and thank you for reading.  
><strong>


	13. Safe

13. Safe

"Wanna cut that out Loker?" Ria snapped at her colleague, turning to glare at him.

Loker was sat at his desk, repeatedly tapping his pen against the hardwood surface, and it was just about to send her over the edge.

He raised his hands in surrender, knowing it didn't take much these days to irritate someone.

"Thank you," she said, sounding genuinely relieved.

Not a second later, Ria started digging the toe of her boot into the tiled floor of the room in a steady rhythm.

"Woah, let's not be hypocritical now Torres," he said, laughing half hysterically.

"Could the two of you just shut up?" hissed Gillian, not taking her eyes off what was happening in the cube. "Either be silent or take your petty squabbles elsewhere."

Ria and Eli locked eyes and made a silent truce with one another. Annoying each other was one thing, but annoying Gillian at the moment was something else entirely. She was a ticking time bomb, and everyone could see how close to the edge she was. Her hair was always slightly dishevelled, her clothes not as perfectly styled as they usually were, her eyes continually red and squinting to see what was currently evading her.

The hunt for Cal's attacker was taking its toll on everyone, but no one more so than Gillian.

They'd all noticed the change that overcame her one day after visiting Cal - not just Ria and Eli, but Heidi had asked her if she'd been taken ill when she arrived at work the next day. When Ben had arrived to start questioning people, his eyes had bugged out so far, Ria and Eli had had to make several rapid hand gestures to stop him blurting out a comment.

No one knew what had actually happened, but it had resulted in a very stressed Gillian, and Cal not returning to work. Foster had breezed in a few days later to inform them that Cal had been released again, and was now resting at home, and that was that. They'd heard nothing more, and everyone's instinct told them to just leave it alone.

Lightman was a strange man, but he always did what he thought was right. By staying away from the offices, it was telling them in no uncertain terms that he wanted nothing to do with anyone at the moment, and just one look at Gillian's face currently told them that to ask about Cal would be a very big mistake.

Of course they'd grumbled about it in secret.

"Why are we putting so much effort in to find the guy that nearly killed Lightman when he's just going to stay out of it completely?" Ria had moaned to Eli after the third day of interrogation of all the suspects they'd dredged up.

"I don't know," had been his reply, which summed up everything at the moment.

Cal was their leading lie expert - as much as he liked to be independent, the others knew that without him, their cracking team was not complete, and couldn't function as well. Still, perhaps it was for the best. With everyone on the verge of breakdowns at the moment, Cal identifying his attacker and going over the edge was the last thing everyone needed.

"So what did you think to him?" Gillian asked them as Ben led the last suspect out of the room, her voice shaking a little. "Did you read anything?"

Eli and Ria both had the good grace to look guilty - for the second half of Walter Black's interview, they'd both started daydreaming.

"For Christ's sake, how are we going to do anything if the two of you aren't even competent enough to watch a simple interview?" she said wearily. There was a sense she wanted to scream at them but simply didn't have the energy.

"Look Foster, we saw the guy for the first half. He's the last man we've got for now - why don't you go and take a break, Ria and I will discuss what we thought of everyone, and we'll meet again in an hour's time to discuss things. You've been working non-stop since eight this morning," Loker tacked on at the end, in a surprisingly gentle voice.

Gillian opened her mouth to protest and then shook her head, defeated.

"You're right," she said. "I'll go grab a coffee or something, and see you back in here in a bit. Thanks."

"No problem," smiled Ria. "See you in a bit Gillian."

Foster stood up and promptly walked out of the room, looking like she was about to collapse. As soon as the door had shut behind her, Ria and Eli both sank into their chairs, letting out a sigh of relief. With Gillian in the room, tensions ran high; without her, the atmosphere was somewhat more relaxed.

"Who have we got then?" Loker asked, starting to flick through the stacks of notes he'd made over the past few days. Altogether, they'd watched twenty two interviews in three days, and his head was spinning.

"Well we can rule some out straight away, purely based on alibi," Ria answered, and Loker nodded in agreement.

"Are you guys looking through the suspects?" Ben Reynolds asked, walking back into the room.

"Yeah... care to join and offer your opinion too?" said Loker.

"No problem. The FBI trusts my judgement; combined with your expertise, I'd say they'd have a good listen to what we come up with."

"I thought the FBI had a problem with our techniques," said Ria idly.

"It's not so much that, as they have a problem with Lightman himself," replied Ben. "Which isn't too difficult to be honest. They've been a little more lenient now it's Lightman himself in danger thought."

"Well that's kind of them isn't it?" said Loker.

"Come off it Eli, let's do our work," Ria sighed, tired of this. It wasn't that she didn't care about the man who had tried to kill Cal, it was more that she just wanted to escape for a bit, but that was impossible.

For a while, the three of them worked quietly, searching through the men to narrow down the suspects. They wanted to get as small a number of possible attacks as possible, so it didn't overwhelm Cal when they would inevitably have to bring him in.

First they ruled out ten of the men based on where they'd been that night. Ten solid alibis that couldn't be argued with left them innocent, with another five that despite a lack of credible alibi, simply couldn't have been in the building that evening.

That left them with seven men to narrow down, based on their interview. After several discussions, Ria and Eli both agreed that three of the men had definitely been telling the truth, there was no denying it, so by the end of the hour, they were left with four men to present Gillian with.

Walter Black, their last interviewee, Ernie Elliot, another man who had been interviewed that day, Bernie Stein and Max Winters, both from previous days.

All four men were known to possess firearms, had been shifty during interview and could provide no firm alibi. Of course they all held a grudge for Cal, but that was nothing new.

"What have you got for me then?" Gillian asked, entering the room again looking only slightly less frazzled.

"I'll have to leave Loker and Torres to fill you in," said Ben apologetically. "The FBI need me back."

"Thanks for all your help Ben," Gillian said with a smile, and there was genuine warmth in her face as she walked over to him for a hug. "We couldn't have managed without you."

Everyone knew this was true; Ria and Eli were still too inexperienced to quiz a potential criminal and look for clues at the same time without the support of both Cal and Gillian, while Foster was in no fit state to be asking people about their involvement with Cal. Face to face interrogation would have probably made her hysterical.

"No problem Gillian, I'm always here," Ben smiled, then left the room after nodding at Loker and Torres.

"Are you feeling any better?" Ria asked as Gillian collapsed into the seat Ben had vacated.

"Yes, thank you," smiled Gillian.

Loker briefly raised his eyebrows - they both knew she didn't look any better. Still, they couldn't exactly say anything, so it was business as usual.

"We've narrowed it down to four men," Eli began, passing Gillian the notes on each of them.

"Talk to me about them," Gillian said, her business mode switched on. At this moment, Cal was just another victim, nothing more.

"Walter Black, Ernie Elliot, Bernie Stein, Max Winters. All four are equally suspect - we need to bring Cal in really, see if he can remember anything," said Loker, trying to sound as offhand as possible.

It didn't work - Gillian still flinched. Neither Ria nor Eli knew the reason for this but it was clear this hadn't gone down well. They were running out of options though; they'd done as much as possible now. It was Lightman's turn.

"Who are these men then?" Gillian asked. Truth be told, everything had turned into a blur the last few days - after she'd finished making notes on someone, they became jumbled up with everyone else, as though a spin cycle was going on in her head.

"Stein and Elliot are your regular gang bosses - Cal helped organise a crackdown on each of them after they started getting sloppy cleaning up after their organised crimes; most of the members went to prison, but as we all know, the brains behind the businesses usually get away, and these are no exceptions. Both were on the run from the police until very recently, but somehow bought their way out of jail, both were probably just looking for revenge if they went for Cal."

Gillian nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with what Loker had said, then motioned for them to continue. Ria took over.

"Winters was a drug dealer, pretty powerful; dealt with very high up people and sold millions of dollars' worth of hard stuff. He can't be accounted for not only the night Cal was shot, but that whole week - he'd escaped police clutches, but was captured again shortly after, and is currently in police custody anyway. We know for definite that he owns a shotgun very similar to the one they believe was used on Cal, but of course nowadays, everyone owns a gun."

"Plausible. Who was the other man?"

"Walter Black."

"Who is he?" Gillian asked, sensing hesitation from the two of them.

"He's our... well, he's wildcard of sorts," said Loker, trying to explain as confusion crossed Gillian's face. "Those cases have all been in the last year, but Black was from five years ago - when Lightman mentioned he hadn't heard the voice for quite some time, Ria sifted through old cases and Black popped up, purely because he'd been known to harbour a grudge for Lightman anyway.

"Reynolds told us Cal had sent his son down several years ago for something insignificant, and Walter was a family man, he got angry with Lightman for splitting the family up over what he deemed as nothing. After that, Black disappeared for a while but cropped up a few years ago for shooting at a man who insulted his recently released son. It was too much of a coincidence to ignore; the link between harming his son and being shot, especially when Black had established a motive all those years ago."

"What was he like during interview?" Gillian asked, struggling to place him again.

"Shifty," answered Ria. "He wasn't straight out lying about things, but he wasn't telling the truth either."

"I see," Gillian answered. "So those four are the ones you definitely think are possible suspects."

"Yes," said Loker and Torres at the same time.

"We're especially cautious of Black and Winters," added Loker.

"What's being done with them at the moment?" Gillian asked.

"Well, there's no real evidence against them at the moment, so the ones not already in police custody have been released temporarily, pending further investigation. That's where Cal comes in."

"If Cal recognises any of their voices, more investigations will be made?" guessed Gillian.

"That's pretty much what Ben said," nodded Ria.

The three of them sat there for a moment, collecting their thoughts, then Gillian glanced at her watch and sighed.

"You two should get going home, you've been stuck in here for hours. Thank you for all that you're doing."

"It's just our job," shrugged Loker, blunt as always.

"Besides, it's for the boss. We'd get fired otherwise," joked Ria, cracking a half smile.

Loker gave a weary grin in return and held the door open for them. Gillian waved goodbye to them as they left the room together then wandered into her office, knowing she had to get out of the room they'd been sat in all day.

Sinking into her comfy desk chair, she let out a heavy sigh then picked up her cell phone. It'd been a week since she'd last spoken to Cal, and that was simply to check he'd gotten home. It was killing her, not talking to him, but the way they'd left things... it seemed to her that it was just easier to let him cool off for now. They needed space from each other.

Gillian didn't like space though. She didn't like the idea of Cal being at home all by himself, no one visiting him. He'd demanded Emily stay with her mom still, both of them completely oblivious to the events that had happened. That left no one for Cal - he was so vulnerable. It was all Gillian could do not to run over and stay there until he was fully recovered, but she could tell Cal hated how she'd looked out for him, and pride kept her away. If Cal could tell her he didn't want her, she wouldn't go.

She had to let him know how the investigations were going though. This was her excuse anyway.

Picking up her cell, she pressed his speed dial number without looking and held the phone to her ear, spinning her chair round to face the window, where night was creeping in.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Gill," he said, sounding relieved.

"Hey Cal," she said softly, less angry now she could hear his voice. "I just wanted to fill you in on a few things. Ria and Eli-"

"Are you doing anything this evening love?" he asked, and Gillian could hear embarrassment and shyness in his voice, a rarity with Cal.

"Well I, I'd been thinking-"

"Don't worry about it," Cal cut in abruptly. "What were you saying?"

Gillian cringed. It'd taken a lot for Cal to ask her if she was free just then, and she'd blown him off by trying to think up an excuse. Truth was, her evening was going to be spent like every other this week; curled up in front of the TV, watching some mindblowing film with a very large glass of wine, that would probably be refilled, and a tub of ice cream.

"Why don't I stop by on my way home?" Gillian suggested, and she almost heard Cal smile. "I can tell you everything face to face, it might be easier."

"That'd be great," said Cal. "I can't clean much up I'm afraid, so I apologise in advance."

"I don't mind," replied Gillian. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

~.^.~

Gillian stamped her feet on the concrete outside Cal's front door. She'd knocked only minutes ago, but it felt like years in the unusually cold weather.

Finally the door opened, with a very ghostly looking Cal clutching onto the door handle for dear life. The notion entered Gillian's head that perhaps the reason Cal took so long to answer the door was maybe because it'd taken him a while just to stand up and get moving.

"Cal, are you okay?" she asked worriedly, ignoring how stupid the question was and moving forward to grip Cal's arm, shutting the front door and locking it behind her.

"If I'm being honest, I'll have to say no," was his reply, grimacing as he started making his way back to the couch he'd been sitting on for the past seven days.

Slowly Gillian helped him back into the room, got him settled again and then sat opposite him, watching him intently with worried eyes.

"I'm not going to pass out on you again, don't worry," he mumbled as he got himself into a vaguely comfortable position. "Just a bit sore still."

"Why is it hurting so much again Cal? Surely they shouldn't have let you home if you were like this."

"Bloody painkillers," he huffed. "Had to give me different ones so I didn't collapse again, only these ones aren't as good."

"Are you taking them now? Regularly?"

"Gill," he sighed wearily. "If you've come over to badger me again, I'll just ask you to go. I love you darling but this is why we argued last week, and I can't do it again. All I've sat here thinking about this last week is you, what happened with you, how much I miss you. I'm not doing it again for another week."

"I'm sorry," said Gillian quietly. "I'm just worried Cal."

"I know you are love. I feel like we need to have this talk, but I was arsey in the hospital and at work, and I can see how tired you are still, so maybe we need to postpone it a little longer."

"No, we need to get this sorted," she said firmly. "You've been thinking about me all week? I've been thinking about you. I can't carry on like this - Ria and Eli are treading on eggshells around me, I think I'm about to explode, or just have a complete meltdown, and, and..."

She couldn't continue. Everything that had been building up over the last month finally broke her, and the flood of tears began.

Cal looked at her with the most intense agony on his face, motioning for her to come and join him, wishing he could be the one to go over to her instead.

She managed to shuffle over to the couch and then sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder very carefully, all the while crying her heart out. Cal attempted to put a comforting arm around her, resting his head on hers, trying to soothe her with a few words that didn't really make sense.

Eventually she sat up and as her tears dried, the hysterics started.

"Oh Cal," she began, tears still streaming but her voice getting high and breathless. "I thought you were dead, and then...funeral...speech, the stupid bed...collapsed, hospital, nurse-"

"Gillian stop, right now," Cal said firmly, wishing he had enough energy to shake her. "Foster, enough!"

His yell was enough for her to get a grip on herself.

"Sorry," she whispered, catching her remaining tears with the edges of her fingers. Thankfully make up had been the last thing on her mind this morning.

"Are you alright love?" Cal asked, worried.

"No," she giggled, still a little hysterical. "Are you?"

"No," he said, the corner of his mouth pulling up a little.

"Come back to work Cal," Gillian sighed, leaning into him again. "We need you there. I need you there. Reynolds has been working with Torres and Loker, they've got four suspects, we need you to identify them, but we need you back behind the scenes too-"

"I'll come back," Cal said gently.

"I'll even let you sit in that damn bed- what?" Gillian asked, surprised.

"I'll come back, tomorrow if you don't mind. I can't spend another day here by myself Gillian, I'm going crazy. Being here with you is the safest I've felt all week, and that makes no sense, because you'd be useless in a fight."

"Very funny," Gillian said, grinning in spite of herself.

"I know," he replied, a lazy smile gracing his features.

"Are we okay now?" she said, straightening up and looking at him seriously. "When you come back, there won't be any tension, any squabbling?"

"No more than usual," Cal reassured her. "Things got out of hand in the hospital. I was tired and ratty, you were tired and more easily offended than usual. I felt you were being over protective, I know you were only doing it because you care. That's what happens in emotional situations isn't it though? We'll just draw a line under it and move on."

"Good," said Gillian, relieved. "So did you want to hear about the four men?"

"Tonight? Not particularly. Tell me tomorrow when I'm back. Let's just sit here for a bit shall we?"

"Sounds good to me," Gillian said, curling up against him once more. "You don't happen to have any ice cream do you?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I've been working on this mammoth chapter all afternoon as an apology for staying away for so long! Hope you enjoyed it; I didn't even leave a cliffhanger! Thank you so much for reading and to those that review, you absolutely make my day. I'm so glad everyone hasn't given up on this story, because I certainly haven't. To those who may be concerned about me devoting more time to Twilight stories (you know who you are!) don't worry. I am a total Twihard, which is why I write stories for Twilight - check them out if you're bored? - but I'm also an avid LTM fan, so I won't be putting this in second place or anything. This story is my priority right now, because when I finish it, I can start writing all the other LTM ideas I have! I'll shut up now, but as a final message, I'll shamelessly provide the incentive of a sneak peek at the next chapter if you review!  
><strong>


	14. Surprise

**A/N: Had a complete breakdown earlier, so decided to write this to calm down. It worked.**

* * *

><p><span>14. Surprise<span>

To anyone who had no clue what had happened over the course of the last month or so, everything at the offices of The Lightman Group looked completely normal for a morning.

Heidi was at the reception desk, trying to organise the company's calendar, answer three phone calls and write something down all at the same time. A delivery man was impatiently knocking at the door, waiting for someone to come and take the bumper box of chocolate doughnuts off his hands that Cal had ordered in for Gillian. Ben Reynolds was just parking his car up in the lot, walking towards the building in his slickest black suit.

And Cal Lightman, Gillian Foster, Eli Loker and Ria Torres were all sat round one table, discussing the new cases they had.

To those that did have a clue, there were cracks in this picture.

Heidi was so rushed off her feet because Cal had decided to try and tackle, or at least get back to, every single person who had required their services during the month's break they'd had. Without him, and with a lack of Gillian for a lot of the time, not much progress had been made, and it was time to catch up. The company's bank accounts needed help, and fast.

There was a huge box of doughnuts on their way to Gillian as the start of the almighty apology Cal had to make to his partner. They had sorted things out on the surface the night before, and to everyone, it seemed everything was fine, but Cal could still the strain he was putting on Gillian, and how unfair he'd probably been over the last few weeks.

Ben was in his smartest suit because today he was facing a very difficult challenge - making someone who'd become a very close friend of his, despite his annoying traits, re live the night someone had tried to murder him. If the day went well, that someone would be arrested. If it didn't, it was back to the drawing board on a case that had been underway for a month now.

And the faces sat around that one table were not happy ones. In the harsh light of the day, sat next to everyone else, Cal looked gaunt. The never ending pain etched on his face added ten years, while his complete loss of appetite over the past month showed - his cheeks were all but hollow, and at the moment, he could still barely walk due to a combination of weakness and agony from his stomach. Sitting up and trying to lead a meeting was finishing him off.

Gillian was just worried. There was no other emotion in her face but worry. Relief that the company's bank balance would be restored, happiness that her friend was back at work, excited to be delving back into the job she loved most, even annoyance at the way Loker and Torres were playing footsie under the table - it was all completely non-existent. Cal had her complete and utter attention, and she didn't like what she could see.

Eli and Ria were confused, so were turning to something they knew very well these days - flirting with one another. Gillian didn't seem to be bothered about them at all, Cal didn't make much sense at times, and all they could see ahead of them was a whole lot of hard work, and after all the research they'd done recently, they both just wanted a break. Neither of them begrudged helping in the search for Cal's attacker for a second, and both were keen to get back to work, but after a month of practically running things single-handedly, they were exhausted, and now at least ten cases had been piled upon them, all to be solved as quickly as possible.

"So does everyone know what they're doing?" Cal rounded off with, looking round at his team.

The three nodded mutely at him, and Cal nodded back.

"Okay, good. Right well, stuff to do, people to see. Foster darling, there's a man at the door and if he knocks much louder, we'll have to buy a new one. Just take what he gives you - it's been paid for."

"What?" she asked, completely stumped. Her mind was a blur of cases and stress, and now Cal was asking her to answer the door? Did they not have someone else for that?

"Yes, we do have someone else for that, but I'd quite like you to get it," Cal said, winking at her and attempting a grin.

"How-"

"I may not always be able to read your face love, but usually I can read your mind. Now, go, and bring Ben back with you, he said he'd be here for ten."

"Okay," said Gillian, losing the energy to question any more. "See you in a bit."

"Now then, you two," Cal said, turning his attention to Eli and Ria once more. "If you've quite finished, have a sift through the cases I want to get through and report back to me in a couple of hours - I want to know if it's actually possible."

"Doubtful," muttered Loker.

"Do I hear pessimism?" asked Cal, raising an eyebrow.

"No, you hear the truth," Torres challenged, looking him straight in the eye.

Momentarily, it was like nothing had changed - Cal and Ria had come to blows once again, the two strongest personalities in the bunch clashing once more. Then Cal sank back into his seat, too tired to sit up straight much longer, and the cracks showed once more.

"Okay, you're right," Cal said, admitting defeat. "I'm trying to make us do too much. It's not fair. Look through them, decide which ones we can do, the best ones - we want money but we also want time to look at others. Don't give me a case that will net us six million dollars in one go but will also take a week."

"But, we just went through them all-"

"Yeah, and you three were so scared of disagreeing with me that you kept your traps shut for the whole meeting. I'm still the same person you nitwits, I've just been shot."

"Why didn't you say that to begin with?" Loker asked.

"Have you seen Foster?" Cal asked. "She looks like she might pass out at any moment. I'm not adding more stress by reminding her of what happened, or by passing up on cases, because she'll know it's due to me, and she'll worry more. You know what she's like. One moment of weakness from me and she falls to pieces. So don't mention this to her. Just do your jobs."

"Sure," Ria said, confused but without the energy to ask any more. Whatever was between their bosses stayed between them. She and Loker were paid to do what was asked of them and nothing more, and right now, she was happy with that arrangement.

"We'll do it later though," said Loker defiantly. "We've worked long and hard on your case, and we're not going to miss the final part. Let us sit in, let us learn."

Cal sighed, and looked at him, then shook his head.

"Fine."

Ria and Eli glanced at each other; that had been far too easy.

"Don't look like that," Cal said rolling his eyes. "I'm trying to acknowledge what you've done, trying to say thank you without actually saying it. Pride thing."

His two employees looked at him, both unimpressed.

"Alright," Cal said, surrendering. "Thank you. Both of you. It means a lot."

"No problem boss," Loker grinned, enjoying the touch of normality they were experiencing. "What time is Ben..."

He trailed off, unsure of the words.

"Ten... so in fifteen minutes," answered Cal. "Not a clue where Foster's setting this damn thing up, so you'll have to find her, then send her back here. Need to ask her something."

They both nodded at him then filed out of the room, Ria slipping her hand into Eli's just before they disappeared out of Cal's eyesight. He smiled to himself then scolded his soft side. It had never gotten him anywhere before, and it wouldn't now.

Speaking of getting somewhere, he was now faced with a dilemma. Not only did he need to find out where he was supposed to be, he needed to figure out how to get there as well. Usually Foster was his sort of crutch, as it were, but she was currently, hopefully, being delighted by the sweet treats Cal had provided for her, and after several attempts at moving around at home, Cal knew walking more than twenty metres by himself would result in him nearly collapsing.

This was fine at home - he hardly lived in a mansion, and he'd even been able to tackle the stairs a few times, using the horrible hospital crutches he'd been provided with, but they'd been left at home in an effort to appear much stronger than he currently was. Now he was stuck, unless he wanted someone to find him in a heap on the floor somewhere.

"You look confused," said a wry voice from the doorway.

"You look like you just enjoyed a doughnut," grinned Cal, gaining a proper smile from Foster in return.

"Thank you very much," she said, walking over to where he was sat and giving him the gentlest of hugs. "The one I've just eaten was delicious, and the other eleven currently sat on my desk will probably be equally as nice."

"I should hope so," Cal said. "Paid good money for them."

She gave him a playful tap round the cheek, but he caught her hand and looked up at her.

"Thank you Gillian," he said sincerely, and she immediately blushed. "I mean it."

"I know you do," she said softly. "Now, hurry up, Ben's waiting."

"Presumably you've come to-"

"Accompany you."

Cal understood this was a way of her telling him that he could still pretend to be as powerful as he wanted, and she'd play along, and then wondered what on earth he'd done to deserve her as a friend.

~.^.~

"Using your account of what happened that night Doctor Lightman, we've recorded each of our suspects repeating the phrases you provided us with. All you need to do is tell us if you recognise any of the voices," Reynolds explained to Cal.

Lightman was situated in a huge squishy armchair in the middle of the room, while Ben and a few men helping with the technology sat to the side. Torres, Loker and Foster all sat to the side, keeping silent.

Foster had filled Cal in on who the suspects were, and he'd remembered each man clearly, but hadn't been told which man would say what, so as not to be biased. Ben knew this method wasn't the best, but with Cal knowing so little of what had happened that night, it was the best they had right now.

"Reckon I can manage that," Cal laughed, settling himself into his seat more, fixing his eyes to the screen that would only show the oscillations of the voices.

Foster was watching patiently, secretly on tenterhooks. She could see the forced smile on his face, the way his hand was gripping the side of the chair. Reynolds flicked a glance over her way and she shot him a worried look back - she was warning him to go steady, go easy on him.

Reynolds' team pressed play, and the moment Cal heard the voice, his throat went dry and he tensed up.

"And you will pay for what you have done to me," said the voice filling the room.

Torres shuddered at the menacing words, and Loker unconsciously moved closer to her, while Foster was fixated on Cal.

"Is this him? This is our guy?" asked Reynolds anxiously, taking into account Cal's silent, disturbed reaction.

"No," Cal managed to say, shaking his head. "Not the same voice. Just, remembering, you know?"

Reynolds nodded understandingly, and instructed his men to play the next clip.

The same thing happened - Cal tensed, Reynolds thought they'd found the man, Cal told him it wasn't the voice. Then it happened again. And again.

Cal glanced over at Foster, worried, as though he'd failed a test. She shot him a puzzled look, while Torres and Loker looked crestfallen - so much hard work, for nothing apparently.

"Play them again," said Cal to Reynolds, frowning.

"As you wish," Reynolds said, and the four voices once more echoed round the room.

"Damn it," Cal huffed, angry at himself and the situation.

"You're sure you recognised none of those voices from that night?"

"Pretty sure," sighed Cal.

"Okay," nodded Reynolds, trying to reassure Cal. "We'll start again. It's fine. We'll find him Doctor Lightman, don't worry."

~.^.~

"Cal, it's not your fault none of those four men were your attacker."

"I just feel so frustrated though Gillian," he grumbled, leaning his head back.

She was driving him home, trying to reassure him that it would get solved, but unsurprisingly, Cal was difficult to convince. After nothing had come of their meeting with Ben, Cal had taken himself off to his office and stayed there for the remainder of the day, only speaking to Ria and Eli when they'd come to drop off the revised list of cases for the coming weeks.

Now it was getting dark, Cal was tired and annoyed at himself, and Gillian was growing weary again. Today had put a strain on everyone, for various reasons, and it seemed nothing had really been accomplished.

The day's disasters paled in comparison to what they were greeted with when Gillian pulled up in Cal's driveway though.

An eerie silence fell over the two of them as Gillian cut the engine, and they got out of the car, both feeling protective of the other.

They were so fixated on what they were seeing, not daring to go any closer to the house, that they barely heard the rumble of an expensive car as it pulled down the road, nor did they hear the slamming of a car door, when the expensive car stopped outside Cal's house and someone got out.

In fact, the partners were so shocked and afraid that they didn't even hear the person walking towards them up the path, only realising someone was there when they spoke.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, so not the longest chapter, but still fairly interesting, I hope. Even included a cliffhanger for you all! Please continue to read and review, thanks to all that do. No preview for a review this time, so do it out of the goodness of your heart?**


	15. Scared

15. Scared

"Tell me Doctor Lightman, what was the very first thing that happened this evening when you arrived home?"

~.^.~

Cal and Gillian wheeled round to find the scared face of Emily Lightman looking at the house, completely aghast.

"Em, darling, what are you doing here?" Cal asked as his daughter dropped her suitcase and ran over to him.

"I'm going to call Reynolds and the police," Gillian told him as Emily flew into his arms. "I'll tell him to get round here as soon as possible."

Gillian stepped to the side and whipped her cell out. Cal winced as his daughter pressed herself against him in a tight hug, and Gillian raised her eyebrows at him over the girl's head while waiting for Ben to pick up; it had been her opinion to tell Emily of this weeks ago, when it first happened. But no, Cal had to be a hero.

"Uh, I asked mom if she could bring me back, I wanted to surprise you...Dad what the hell's going on?"

"Well, no one quite knows," Cal explained slowly, ignoring her confused expression. "Do me a favour love, wait out here with Gillian while I go inside and check everything out."

He could hear Gillian murmuring very quickly in the background, and he could tell she was panicking.

"What's happened to the house? Have we been burgled or something?"

"Em, I don't have a clue, we only got here five minutes ago."

"Reynolds is on his way," Gillian called, slipping her cell phone back into her purse.

"Excellent. Right, Em, wait here with Foster, I'll be back in a minute."

"Woah, no. No no no. You're not going in the house by yourself in your condition," Gillian said firmly, hurrying over to block his entry.

"What condition?" asked Emily, her eyes like saucers. "Was anyone planning to tell me anything?"

"Fine," said Cal, ignoring his daughter. "Emily wait out here, Gillian and I will go in. Oh screw that, Emily, stay with me, and don't move from my sight once."

"Cal, we're waiting for Reynolds."

"Dad, I don't really want to go in there. What if there's someone still in there?"

"Exactly. We wait."

~.^.~

"And did you want to wait, as Doctor Foster wished?"

~.^.~

Cal huffed. He was screaming at his partner and daughter in his head. All he'd been doing for several weeks now was just waiting. Waiting to get better, waiting to be less weak, waiting to be normal again. He'd be damned if he was going to wait for someone else to investigate his own home right now. It was his house, his job to protect his two girls.

"I'm not waiting," he said to Gillian, his gaze so steely she stepped back, startled.

Gillian exchanged a quick glance with Emily then nodded at Cal.

"Okay. Okay, let's go."

Leaving her suitcase on the path where she'd dropped it, Emily followed after her father with Gillian close behind. All three were nervous, all for different reasons.

~.^.~

"So, Miss Lightman-"

"Uh, you can call me Emily."

"Okay, Emily. Can you describe how you were feeling?"

~.^.~

Emily was the most terrified - she had no clue what was going on. She only knew two things; one, whatever had happened to her house, her dad and Gillian knew something about it that they weren't telling her, and two, there was something wrong with her dad and for some reason, he was refusing to fill her in. Being kept in the dark was an understatement.

~.^.~

"Doctor Foster, Doctor Lightman mentioned that you weren't too impressed with his plan of action."

~.^.~

Gillian was unhappy with Cal for putting her in this position. She was well acquainted with his stubborn side but it never failed to annoy her, and now they were going into a house which could very well still be hiding their attacker, who was seemingly still at large. They being a scared and completely oblivious teenager, a jittery, tired woman and a man who could still barely walk, let alone fend someone else off.

~.^.~

"How were you feeling at this point Doctor Lightman? Helpless? Courageous?"

"Is this really relevant?"

"I just want all the facts sir."

~.^.~

Cal wanted Gillian and Emily to be outside, so if the attacker was inside still, they would be in no harm. He wanted them to be inside with him so the attacker couldn't get to them while he was distracted inside. He wanted them to be anywhere but here so they were safe. He wanted them right by his side in case this was a trap. He wanted to protect them as much as he could, but right now, as much as he could wasn't a whole lot.

Pushing his front door open, Cal felt a surge of anger. Someone had broken into his home, and had potentially stolen his belongings, and they had no right to. He almost wanted to encounter this piece of scum so he could tell him exactly what he thought of him.

~.^.~

"And what happened when you entered the house Doctor Lightman? Did the encounter between you and the piece of scum happen as you wished?"

~.^.~

Cal knew the minute he stepped over the threshold that his house was empty. Idiot hadn't stuck around to face the consequences. He snapped the hall light on, scaring Emily half to death, and then proceeded to enter the lounge.

The place was an absolute wreck.

The three of them stood still for a moment, taking stock of what had happened.

Glass was everywhere from the smashed TV screen and broken windows, while paper littered the floor. Amongst the mess were various personal items, all ruined; his spare laptop, a vase, his house phone, even plates and glasses that hadn't been cleared away from the rushed breakfast he'd had that morning.

Carefully picking his way around the upturned furniture, Cal stooped down with a grunt and picked up something from the floor. Gillian wanted to go and help him but she knew treading anywhere in her high heels would be foolish, and she had a feeling Cal wanted to inspect it by himself.

As he straightened up, her face fell.

"Cal," she said simply, her voice full of sadness and pity that matched his expression.

In his hands was what had once been a first edition of his favourite book, ripped from his treasured bookshelf that now lay on the floor, the pages torn out and scattered around the room. Other prized books had met the same fate, explaining the pages everywhere.

"We can always find another one," offered Emily, wanting to see her dad smile for the first time since she'd arrived.

"Doubt the insurance will pay out that much love," Cal said with a resigned tone. "Cost an arm and a leg to get hold of one of these nowadays."

"We'll still try," said Gillian, wondering when Cal's fortune was going to finally turn around and make him happy.

"Yeah," Cal said after a very long pause. He needed to at least make an effort, and Emily's eyes were wide with hope, though unable to mask her fear too. "Yeah, we'll try."

~.^.~

"And this was when the police arrived, correct?"

~.^.~

A moment's silence passed between the three of them and then noise erupted. Sirens screamed from outside and brakes of police cars screeched as they were suddenly pulled to a stop. Before the sirens had even finished, men were racing into the house, Reynolds at the forefront looking aghast.

"Doctor Foster, you okay?" was his first question.

"We're all fine," she nodded, putting a hand on Emily's shoulder without thinking. "Thank you for getting here so quickly."

"How long have you guys been here alone?"

"Not long," Gillian assured him. "We've only been so far as here, but there's no one around still."

"You haven't checked this though?" asked another officer, raising an eyebrow.

"No offence mate, but I've got damn good instincts, and there is no one in my house," said Cal, placing his ruined book on the coffee table that was miraculously still standing and then turning to glare at the man.

"We'll still need to check," Reynolds said, trying to keep peace. He knew Cal was tetchy at the moment, having heard some of the quarrels between him and Gillian recently, and the last thing he needed was Cal getting himself arrested for starting a fight with a member of the force.

"Go for it," Gillian said, gesturing out of the room with her free arm. "But would a couple of you mind setting the couch back up for us? I think we all need to sit down."

She looked at Ben then glanced at Cal meaningfully. Cal didn't miss the look but he kept his mouth shut for once and just nodded.

"Can't Dad do it?" asked Emily, confused.

Cal looked at Gillian helplessly but she just looked at him. She'd told him she wasn't going to help him dig himself out of the mess he was now in, and she was keeping her word. Cal huffed and then sat himself down on the now upright couch, unable to help the relief at sitting down. Gillian noticed his expression smugly and nodded her thanks to Reynolds.

As the men dispersed themselves around the house, Emily sat down on one side of her dad, looking at him expectantly. Gillian took her place on the other side of him, kicking her shoes off and tucking her legs beneath her, resting her head on Cal's shoulder. She was exhausted, and despite all the drama, was fairly certain she'd be able to fall asleep right now. As it was, she made a concerted effort to keep her eyes open, but it was difficult. Especially difficult when Cal's arm unconsciously found its way round her shoulders and rested there, making her feel safe and carefree for the first time in a month or so.

To her left, Cal was telling Emily what had happened, her face flickering through so many emotions it was making Cal feel sick, unable to help himself reading them each time. Worry, shock, anger, concern, fleeting happiness, almost tears. It was safe to say she was less than impressed at this information being withheld from her for so long.

"Could you not have just called me?"

"I told him to," Gillian mumbled, speaking up for the first time.

"You need to start listening to your partner," said Emily.

"Shut up you," Cal said, squeezing Gillian's shoulders. She smiled lazily before her eyes started closing again. "Em, if I'd called you, you would've been straight down here, and that was the last thing I needed."

"I bet Gillian needed it," said Emily airily. "I bet you were a nightmare of a patient."

Her words echoed Gillian's and for a moment, the two adults tensed on the couch.

"You have no idea," said Cal softly, looking at his daughter. "Maybe she could've used your help."

Gillian reached up to touch his arm lightly, letting him know it was okay. He was forgiven.

"Exactly."

"It was bad enough my staff being targeted though Emily. I didn't want my daughter getting involved. We have no idea who this guy is still, why he's doing this other than maybe to threaten the company, and most worrying of all, we don't know where he is and where he's going to strike next. Imagine if you'd been here when he arrived."

Emily fell silent, realising her dad was completely right for once.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said finally, changing position to mirror Gillian's, her head resting on his shoulder. Cal softly stroked her hair, as he'd done when she was just a kid, and she felt herself falling asleep without being to help it.

"Are we hurting you?" asked Gillian, sitting up a little to look at Cal, her eyes heavy with tiredness.

"No," Cal said simply. "Go to sleep Gill."

"I should get going home," she said without moving.

"Don't go," he said. It wasn't a beg or a plea, but she sensed how much he wanted her to stay.

Without another word, she curled back up on the sofa and was asleep on Cal in seconds. He sat there for a while, trying to take everything in. He was tired too, but there was no way he'd be sleeping tonight. Not while there was someone out there posing a danger to him and the people either side of him, the people that meant most to him in the world.

He was content enough to sit there, staring out of his cracked window at the flashing blue lights at the front of his house, feeling the night air tickle his face from time to time. It was a balmy night but by this time the cool was settling in slightly. It was surreal, but with his daughter and Gillian either side of him on the couch, Cal was more content and happy than he had been in a while, despite the storm raging around him.

~.^.~

"And at this point, Mr Reynolds came back to speak to you?"

"Yeah. He came to let me know they'd searched the house and there was no one there, as I'd thought. He also said it appeared to only be downstairs that was damaged, because nothing had been touched upstairs, and the lounge was the worst hit place. He doesn't know if it's because the person got scared off or they'd just had enough, but that was that. And he also doesn't want to rule out that it could've been a regular break in. I've got to take inventory tomorrow, and report back."

"Does anything appear to be missing?"

"No. I had a laptop, top of the range sound system and a decent television in my lounge alone, and it's all there still, just ruined. I think..."

"You think what, Doctor Lightman?"

"I think it wasn't a burglar. It was the guy who wrecked Torres' office, the guy who attacked Loker, the guy who scared Gillian, the guy who shot me. It's always the same guy, and his threats are getting worse."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I hate this chapter. It was a nightmare to write, which is why it's taken so long to put up. I'm very sorry. I just couldn't get going with it. The next one should be up soon - only a few more to go! To anyone who is still reading, thanks for sticking with it this long. Going to try and get back into the story and properly finish it. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I wish everyone a great 2012. (Speaking of which, I still haven't received my Secret Santa! Sigh.). I might do a preview of the next chapter for those that review. Maybe. You'll have to wait and see I guess.**


	16. Action

16. Action

"Cup of tea, newspaper and a custard cream."

"It's like you can read my mind darling," Cal said, glancing up from his desk to see Gillian walking in with a steaming mug, paper tucked under her arm and a biscuit perched delicately on her hand.

"Can't read your mind, but I can read your face," she reminded him. "Are you sure you should be in?"

"Yes," he said quickly.

"Right," she said, eyeing him as he dipped his biscuit in the mug.

"Honestly, I'm feeling fine. Good enough, in fact, that I want-"

"You ate the last chocolate bourbon yesterday," she interrupted, smiling sweetly at him.

"You mean you did," he said, pointing a finger at her accusingly before taking a swig of tea to hide his smile.

"Can you read faces too? I never knew."

"Haven't had much practice as of late."

"Oh why's that? Because you were at home resting like you should have been?" she asked, leaving him opening and closing his mouth like a fish as his defence crumbled. "Thought as much."

"I'm fine," he protested. "Well enough to be back at work."

Truthfully he was a little sore still, but he was a fighter. It was why it hadn't taken him as long as anticipated to recover; it had definitely helped that the only damage had been blood loss though. When Cal wanted to defeat something, he would. Then, it had been his injury. Now it was this goddamned attacker.

"At least you're not in that ridiculous bed anymore."

"And we could have had so much fun with that...in fact, we still can. Remind me where that went?"

"Back to your spare room," she said shortly, already sensing the innuendoes that were coming.

"Right," he said, only allowing himself a little sideways grin. They both knew what he was thinking though, and Gillian rolled her eyes.

"Ria and Eli will be in soon, they've just gone to collect some photos from the senator we're working with."

"Senator? Photographs? Also, why does it take two of them?"

"Yes, photographs. I took a new case on for us this week. It's only one case, but the money's pretty good, you don't need to get involved, and we really need to make something soon, or we'll take a nosedive straight back into the red."

"That was not the best idea love."

"Why?" she demanded.

"I want to close the offices for a week or so."

Gillian stepped back abruptly, stunned by Cal's announcement.

"Were you going to run this past me before or after you went through with it?"

"I was hoping for after, but I guess that's scuppered now."

Gillian fixed Cal with a look that made his insides quiver.

"Just kidding. I was going to tell you, I just knew you'd react like this."

"Like what?" she asked, affronted.

"Like this," he said, gesturing to her. "All wide, confused eyes, like I just shot your puppy for no reason."

"You'd shoot a puppy for no reason?"

"Completely irrelevant."

"You would?"

"No. Gillian, focus. I just-"

He glanced up from his tea and saw her eyes sparkling.

"Hilarious, that you would tease me about shooting dogs. You know my dog got run over when I was seven?"

Remorse immediately crossed her face and the smile fell.

"Cal I'm so sorry, I didn't realise."

"That's because it never happened. Never got a dog, but I always wanted one. See how irritating it is when you distract me?"

"Point taken," she said, narrowing her eyes. "I felt awful for a second there."

"I know. It was amusing to watch."

"So I take it closing the offices has something to do with..."

She trailed off and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish the sentence.

"Yes, something to do with the hole in one side of my stomach. You're going to have to learn to say it out loud one day love."

"I don't like saying it out loud. I worry you might not like it, or that it'll bring back bad memories."

"Say it."

"No."

"Why not? Do it now while I'm in a relatively good mood. You know closing the offices isn't going to make me particularly chirpy."

"Okay. So I take it closing the offices has something to do with you... getting shot."

She said the last part in a rush, almost closing her eyes. As she said it, her worst fears were confirmed. Cal groaned in pain and shut his own eyes, pressing a hand to his torso.

"See! I'm a psychologist Cal, I know these things, and how triggers can trigger off-"

"Not a very good one are you?" he said, straightening up and grinning at her. "And fancy that, a trigger triggering something off. Anyone would think they were the same word."

"That was not funny," she stated, glaring at him.

"I disagree. Besides, it looks like recent events have sent your people reading skills askew. I reckon you need this week off. You should stay at home more, work isn't too healthy. Always on your feet, never relaxing."

"You're so hilarious Cal," she retorted. "I'm sure your doctor would agree with me."

"I'm sure he would too, practically drooling over you when you came to see me. His eyes lit up when we argued," Cal said dreamily, pretending to reminisce.

"Again with the comedy gold. And, I'm sorry for arguing with you while you were in hospital. You know that right Cal? That I'm sorry."

"I know you have nothing to apologise for. It was my fault. I'm a miserable sod at times and you didn't deserve all that you had to put up with me. Besides, I thought we cleared this up the other night."

"The other night when I spent a restless night half asleep on your shoulder while the police surrounded us as they did a search of your ransacked home. Definitely a good time for clearing the air."

"I know, couldn't have written it better myself."

"How is the house?"

"Not brilliant. Insurance paid for a lot; they got a man round to fix up the windows and doors pretty sharply, and the expensive equipment, they're replacing that too. Upstairs was alright, so it's not like Em had to go back to her mum's or anything."

"Are the insurance paying for everything?" she asked, and he caught the meaning behind her words.

"They don't care about a bloody book," he said grimly. "I'll get it sorted."

"If you need any help tracking down another, I don't mind helping," Gillian offered.

"Thanks, you're going to need something to do with a week off work," he teased lightly, steering the conversation away from his house.

"So you're definitely closing us for a week?"

"I've been thinking it over, and I think it's a good idea."

"Can I ask why?"

She looked curious and Cal smiled.

"I suppose they'll think we've given in. Got scared off. They've won. They'll be watching for it. Closed offices, no security, no cameras switched on. But whoever it was knows me well enough to catch me late at night, when I'm still here but everyone else has gone home. They'll know me well enough that I'd still come to work even when I'd closed it too."

"It's a trap?" Gillian asked, concern in her voice.

"Yeah, but I'm not being an arse about anything this time. No heroics. Reynolds is already onboard - his men will be everywhere when the guy makes his move."

"No heroics?" she asked doubtfully, raising an eyebrow.

"No heroics," he assured her. "I've got a bullet wound anyway, don't need to be a hero."

"Yes, I'm sure you'll attract all number of women with that," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Does it work?" he asked with a wink.

"On me, no," she said bluntly.

"I'll find something else," he teased. "So you're okay with it Gill? The offices being closed. That's okay?"

"If you think it'll help, I'm not going to stop you."

"Thanks," he said simply, nodding at her.

She smiled at him and went to walk out but paused suddenly and turned back to him.

"What dog did you want?"

"Rottweiler," he growled, not looking up from the newspaper he'd resumed reading.

"That figures," she laughed.

"I'm kidding," Cal called, looking up at her. "I wanted a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel."

She raised both eyebrows this time, looking confused.

"Is that true?"

"You tell me," he said with an amused air, keeping his face straight.

"Oh wow. Never had you down for a lap dog Cal."

"Is that attractive?" he yelled as she left the room.

"Still a no," she shouted back, feeling pleased she wasn't still in the same room. It meant he couldn't see her enormous smile.

The feeling was mutual as Cal smirked into his mug of tea.

~.^.~

As Cal sunk back into his new couch, he smiled. Armed with an ice cold beer, a bag of cheese and onion crisps and a brand new television, he was pretty much living the dream. Emily was at a friend's house, he had no pressing issues to take care of and Loker hadn't called him in over an hour. Bloody teacher's pet, still doing work even when the offices were shut. Torres and him were probably having a study party.

Still, life seemed good, and peaceful, and he liked it.

Until the front door crashed open.

"Cal, switch on the news," Gillian said, bustling into his lounge without so much as a knock.

"Knew I shouldn't have let you have your own key," Cal joked, smug that neither his drink nor his crisps had gone flying in his shock.

"Cal. Switch. On. The. News."

"Bloody hell, calm down," he said, taking in her flustered face, windswept hair and ruffled clothing. He couldn't help finding her very attractive, though the impatient look on her face that was rapidly turning into anger made him tear his eyes away pretty quickly and fumble around for the remote.

"...Group has closed its offices for two weeks, in a move that is unprecedented for Cal Lightman, fast becoming notorious amongst the police forces and politicians of Washington for being ruthless and brash in his approach to solving crime. Mr Lightman is well known for keeping business going as usual regardless of what is happening and this turn of events has surprised..."

Cal let the newswoman's voice become background noise as he turned to face Gillian.

"Well?" she spluttered, hoping he'd see what she was seeing.

"Called me Mr Lightman. Anyone would think I didn't have an education. And ruthless and brash? I mean Christ, I can be bad but ruthless is a bit-"

"Cal! It's on the news. The case has made the news! The fact you have closed the offices of the Lightman Group is on the national news!"

"Gill, you've just told me three times and made me watch the bloody news itself. I've got the message love."

"You didn't want it on the news! Won't that scare the person off?"

"Doubtful," Cal shrugged, not moving from his sprawled out position on the couch.

Gillian surveyed the lack of room near him and took a seat in the comfy armchair to the side.

"You think it's a good thing," she said after a pause.

"More publicity, faster he'll know. I want to get this sorted Gill."

She looked at him and all her stress dissolved. He didn't let his guard down often and she didn't like it when he did. It made him vulnerable again. It reminded her of his phone call.

"I know."

"I don't like the idea of him still being out there. What if he gets to you again, or Emily? He's still a threat, and I want to remove that."

"We'll find him Cal," she said softly.

"Do you want a cuppa at all?" he asked, once more changing subject sharply.

"No, I can't really stay I'm afraid," she said, and looked genuinely regretful. "I promised I'd meet Alec for lunch. He wants to talk; I guess it's to do with the move or the house or something."

"Don't worry about it," said Cal, blowing off her comment with a wave of the hand and trying not to let the disappointment show on his face. She still caught it, but then again, he caught hers too.

"Who do you think it was, by the way? Who called the station to tip them off about the offices? They wouldn't go looking for that sort of story."

Cal looked at her, a smile playing on his lips.

"That figures," she said, shaking her head as she stood up. "And I was going to blame it on poor Eli."

"He'd have survived," Cal remarked.

Gillian rolled her eyes and moved closer to the door.

"I'll call you later?" she asked, her tone implying there wasn't really a question in there at all.

"I'd like that," he said warmly, the smile breaking out onto his face.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Checked over, added to, next chapter coming soon. Thanks for sticking with it.**


	17. Open

17. Open

"What can I get you both to drink?"

"We'll both have your finest champagne," Alec said, leaving his menu unopened on the table in front of him.

~.^.~

"You don't even like champagne. Bloody idiot."

"Cal, will you not interrupt me? You wanted to know what happened so I'm telling you, and you'll be annoyed if I miss anything out."

"Who even orders champagne at lunch though? Smarmy git."

"Cal. I was married to the man, for many years. Could you stop insulting him please?"

"Everyone makes mistakes love."

"It wasn't a mistake! Now shut up or I'll hang up."

~.^.~

"Champagne?" Gillian asked, a little surprised. "Are we celebrating something?"

She was already a little freaked out as it was. Her ex husband had asked her out to lunch at one of the finest restaurants in town and now he was starting off by ordering expensive drinks? Gillian was nervous, to say the least.

"We certainly are," Alec said, putting particular emphasis on his first word.

Gillian gulped as the waiter nodded and walked away. She sincerely hoped Alec hadn't misread any of their conversations over the past few weeks, and was entertaining thoughts of them being together again. She'd moved on from Alec now; that chapter had closed.

~.^.~

"Course he's misread them. Thick as two short planks, always was, always will be."

"That's, that's really nice Cal. Thanks. I like it when you take heed of what I'm saying."

"That wasn't really an insult love, it was more stating the truth."

"In an insulting way. You're impossible."

"And you've moved on. Anyone in particular in your thoughts?"

"Cal, I really will hang up if you're not careful. Your tone is irritating me and I'll happily ignore your calls for the rest of the day if necessary."

"My tone always irritates you darling, it's one of my many talents."

"Most people wouldn't call it a talent. In fact, I'm one of the ones who believe it to be a curse."

"I know you don't mean that. Now hurry up and tell me what he wanted to celebrate."

"That's what I was trying to do."

~.^.~

Of course they'd spoken a little over the last few weeks. In clearing out the house, Alec had stumbled across old belongings of Gillian's that they'd both forgotten about, and he wanted to return them. Sometimes Gillian got the impression that he found more than one possession a day but he'd only ever call her about one item at a time.

Still, occasionally they'd share a few smiles and a happy memory over something he'd discovered buried away, and Gillian was now anxious that Alec had taken this as some sort of signal that they could start working things out.

"We are celebrating the fact I am no longer moving to Australia!" he said, raising his champagne glass up jubilantly.

~.^.~

"Why the bloody hell would anyone celebrate that-"

"Cal."

~.^.~

"You're not going?" Gillian asked, so stunned she left her champagne glass hovering mid air as Alec downed his in one.

"Not yet. Six more months; my company have extended my stay over there an extra half year, so I'm going later rather than paying six months' more rent."

"Well, that certainly makes sense," Gillian said, nodding. "Can I ask you something Alec?"

~.^.~

"Why are you such a massive, enormous, giant-"

"My finger is hovering over the little red button Cal. Hovering."

~.^.~

"Go right ahead. If it's about the house, then yes, I'm still selling it. It would be unfair on the people that have bought it to pull out now, though of course I still can if you've had a change of heart?"

"No, it's not that, I... wait, where are you going to live now?"

Please, god, don't let him want to live with her. Not for six months. Not for six minutes.

"Still right here in Washington of course."

~.^.~

"Brilliant."

~.^.~

"Oh."

"So what did you want to ask?"

"I was just-"

"Can I take your order please?" asked the waiter, re appearing at their table.

"I will have a Caesar salad with extra dressing," Alec smiled at him.

Gillian frantically scanned the menu but there were no prices and Alec had made it pretty damn obvious that he was paying.

"I'll have the same," she eventually replied. "But no dressing."

"Thank you."

"No dressing?" asked Alec.

"I need to stay healthy, for the job and all."

"Gillian, you're a psychologist," Alec pointed out, looking confused.

"And yet I do so much running around," she muttered under her breath.

~.^.~

"Thank you."

"Thank you? Why are you thanking me?"

"I don't do it enough. Don't tell you how much I appreciate you."

"Praise indeed from the mighty Lightman."

"Well don't expect it again anytime soon. I know you work hard though, usually either for me or because of me."

"I don't mind when it's for you. And cleaning up the messy trail you inevitably leave behind is standard nowadays; if I want to keep a job, it's necessary."

"You can move on now. I've said my bit."

"Truly touched my heart there Cal. Especially that final sentiment."

"I do my best."

~.^.~

"Ah yes, the Lightman Group have recently run into trouble," Alec said, folding his hands on the table, false concern carefully displayed on his face.

"How did you know about that?" Gillian asked.

"A lot of people watch the news."

"We haven't run into trouble though. You make it sound like it's our fault," Gillian said, raising her voice and feeling very indignant. At the end of the day it was still half hers, and she would defend it to the ground.

~.^.~

"Defend it or defend me?"

"That's arrogant of you Cal."

"It or me?"

"Both, of course."

~.^.~

"That business was always doomed to fail Gill," Alec said, bringing out the age old trump card he usually had stashed away up a sleeve somewhere. "Doesn't this prove it?"

"Not at all. It proves the opposite. It proves that in the face of adversity, the Lightman Group and its staff can pull together to solve the problem, regardless of what happens."

"Come and work with me Gillian," Alec said after a pause, placing a hand on Gillian's. "You have six months to give it a go. It's a secure company, secure wages; company debt isn't entirely in your hands, and me and you, we could try again. We've both changed now Gillian, we could make it work. And if it does, we'll go to Australia together, we'll-"

"Alec, stop, now," Gillian said shakily.

~.^.~

"Tell me this isn't a phone call to let me know you're moving to Australia with Alec."

"Would I ever do that over the phone?"

"Probably not, but I wouldn't expect you to move halfway round the world either."

"Well I don't plan to."

"Good."

~.^.~

"Why?" he asked, frowning as she pulled her hand away.

"I have no desires to go back to what we were before Alec," she said, shaking her head. "I'm pleased that you have this job and this new opportunity, and I'd love to stay in touch and keep up this friendship, but that's all I'm interested in. I'm very sorry if I've given you the wrong impression."

"But Gillian-"

"I'm really sorry Alec. I hope Australia holds a lot for you," she said, scooting her chair from under the table and walking out of the restaurant before he could protest any further.

~.^.~

"You walked out on him?"

"I felt like I might hyperventilate."

"That's my girl."

"This isn't funny Cal. He was serious when he spoke, he thought I would actually agree to leave the Group and live with him in Australia."

"Well at least you can see sense."

~.^.~

Cal looked up at the men entering his office. With his feet resting on his desk, chair fully reclined and glasses perched on the edge of his nose as he scrutinised the current page of his newspaper, he looked entirely at ease. Gillian, who rounded out the five men standing in the office, knew much better.

"Do your worst then," Cal sighed, folding the newspaper up and ripping his glasses off.

"You're playing a dangerous game Lightman," Reynolds announced, his face grave.

"And I am losing. That's why I'm trying a different technique, different strategy. Might start winning."

"And you might get yourself killed," Ben shot back, shaking his head.

"What am I supposed to do?" Lightman asked, standing up and walking round the desk so he was closer to Ben and his four other FBI agents. "What am I supposed to do when doing nothing doesn't work, leaving the offices open doesn't work and closing them doesn't work?"

Reynolds was speechless. Lightman had a point, and that was why they were here. They needed to discuss solutions, actions that needed to be taken, anything to finally get this case wrapped up.

"We need to talk it over," a man standing behind Ben piped up. "That's why we're here."

"With all due respect," Cal said, inclining his head at the man he had no idea the identity of. "I've done a lot of talking over the past few weeks, and I'm sick of it. I want something to be done. Not something to be talked about, something to be put into action."

"Don't start getting unreasonable," another man said, holding his hand up.

"Doctor Lightman isn't being unreasonable," Gillian said, speaking for the first time. She crossed the room to stand at Cal's side, and he nearly keeled over in shock. Gillian was backing him up, wholeheartedly, of her own accord. Come to think of it, she had been looking a little peaky this morning. "We've been in talks with the FBI for a long time; we need to see something happening now. Our team have hit dead ends so we're passing it to you, and it's your responsibility. You owe us something concrete to prove you're doing something about it."

Gillian looked at Cal for a millisecond and he returned the glance, conveying as clearly as he could with his face just how grateful he was. She understood.

"Where do we go from here then?" Reynolds asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Ball's in your court," said Cal simply. "Go away and have a think, get back to me by five. I've got a movie to watch at six."

"Do you want to join us as we discuss?" asked Ben.

"Go right ahead and do your thing, I'd hate to interrupt," Cal said, winking at him. "See you at five."

Ben nodded, his face tighter and more serious than ever as he led his men out. He knew he had a big task ahead of him, working out how to stop whatever was threatening the Lightman Group and evading capture. They were running out of avenues now, and Ben didn't like seeing his friends in danger. As friendly as they were, Ben could see the stress and exhaustion in both Cal and Gillian, and he didn't need a psychology degree to tell.

"You know that movie starts at eight right?" Gillian asked, nudging Cal ever so slightly in the ribs.

"Got to get ready haven't I? If I want to dazzle you."

"You intend to dazzle me? That's certainly something."

"I can impress you. If I take the wheelchair the hospital insisted I keep for six months, we can cut to the front of the queues for tickets, popcorn and soda. You'll be the heroine taking her so-injured-he-can't-walk date out. Don't tell me that doesn't make you swoon darling."

"Cal, I refuse to be a part of that scheming, underhand plan. You don't need that wheelchair, and you might cut in front of someone who really does need to jump queues for health reasons."

Cal groaned suddenly and pressed a hand to his stomach.

"I fell for that one last time. Not again," Gillian laughed, turning to his desk to pick up the paper.

"Not...kidding," he managed to get out. "Help me sit down, please. Gillian."

"Oh my god, Cal," she said, face draining of colour in an instant, newspaper forgotten. "Take my arm."

Slowly she led him to the couch at the other end of the room, cursing the length of the office. As they reached it, she carefully helped Cal lower himself down, him moaning in pain the entire time.

"Should I call the hospital?" she asked worriedly, hand already on the door handle.

"Nah," he said, sitting up and smiling at her brightly. "They might demand the wheelchair back for a bit."

"You're...you're not..."

"Now I think that just proved that taking the wheelchair tonight could be necessary after all."

"You're going to the movies alone," Gillian said, shaking her head and letting Cal read the anger all over her face. "You're going to die alone as well."

"I'll pick you up at seven thirty," Cal called as Gillian left the room.

"You're not driving," she yelled back. "Not if you need a wheelchair."

Cal smirked and shook his head before standing up. It was too easy at times.

~.^.~

"What's the verdict?" Gillian asked, having watched the FBI agents leave Cal's office at half six.

"You're still here?" Cal asked, genuinely surprised, though not in an unkind way.

"I'm the only one. The others have all left, but I wanted to know what the plan was," Gillian said, kicking her shoes off and curling up on the office couch. "Besides, I don't have plans tonight anyway."

Her tone was teasing but weary. The day had been tense and tiring to say the least.

"Charming. You're not going to like it," Cal stated as he sat down next to her.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"I have to cancel our date," Cal said, a smile forming on his face.

"It was never a date," Gillian clarified. "It was two friends catching a movie. Don't be Alec and misread anything."

"Wouldn't dream of it love."

"So what's happening tonight?"

"The only trick we have left," sighed Cal heavily, and Gillian could tell it wasn't a solution he liked.

"And what would that be?" she asked.

~.^.~

Eight o'clock, the digital clock glowed at him. One hour since Gillian had left after giving him a good old yelling at, half an hour since Reynolds and the FBI agents had left to get into position. Pitch black, single light on in Cal's room, security cameras switched off. It was perfect.

Hearing a crash from the other side of the building, Cal stood up, swallowing instinctively. His mind had gone into self defence mode and he was glad he'd talked Gillian out of staying with him.

He and Ben had been right.

The threat was in the building once more.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: My internet crashing forced this story and I to make up again. I hope this chapter wasn't a complete disaster - sorry if the beginning is confusing, but sometimes I find if I mix up the style a bit, it's a little easier to write. So only a few more chapters to go now! Thanks for sticking with the story. And as a quick note, to anyone's fics I've been reading and reviewing and then suddenly stopped, I haven't lost interest at all, I've just been so busy I've barely had time to even read stories! Don't forget to check out _Find Me _which will be updated much more frequently than this!**


	18. Aftermath

18. Aftermath

"Doctor Lightman, we need you to stay here a little longer."

"No."

"Doctor Lightman, please, we need a statement, we need you to talk to-"

"No. You can get your statement tomorrow."

"Cal. Let them do their jobs. Let me do mine."

"Let me do mine, Ben."

"I know you just want to get to Doctor Foster, but this won't take long."

"It's already been an hour. I'm tired. And yeah, I want to see Gill. Bye."

"Cal, you can't leave."

"Watch me."

"Doctor Lightman!"

"Please, Doctor Lightman, wait!"

"Cal! You're an idiot."

~.^.~

In the dark corner of a dingy bar, a man sat alone, staring at his barely touched pint of lager. He was off, away in some other world in his head, oblivious to the people around him who in turn, took no notice of him.

Some cheesy song from decades ago began playing out from the ancient, gaudy jukebox on the other side of the bar, met with cheers and drunken renditions of whatever song it was. Normally he would have leapt at the chance to join in with this atmosphere, accompanying the middle aged men with their too tight shirts, too gelled hair trying vainly to pull any girl who would have them.

Tonight though, it would be him, and his thoughts.

"You want some company?"

He looked up at the woman stood in front of him, leaning on his table so her chest was very obviously pointing in his direction. It was reasonable, and the dress she was wearing left little to the imagination anyway, but he just wasn't interested. Sure, she was attractive enough, but he could see a smudge in the ruby red lipstick painted onto her face, see where the hot air of the bar had melted a few specks of mascara above her eyes. She was a mess, and so was he.

"Not tonight love."

He heard her tut, watched her walk away, purposefully swinging her hips to show him what he was missing. No doubt she'd be all over one of the men opposite him before long, the mysterious man in the corner forgotten in seconds. He couldn't care less.

~.^.~

Gillian glanced at the clock again, then at her watch, and finally the digital display on the television, showing some TV series long forgotten. She didn't know what she was expecting. Maybe one would show a completely different time, one that would calm the anxiety. But they all showed the same. Ten twenty six.

Dear god, why was it taking this long?

Awful thoughts crossed her mind. What if the police hadn't actually shown up? What if Cal was sat there, sitting pretty in his office, completely vulnerable? Worse, what if something had happened to him?

The sound of her cell phone ringing made her leap a foot off the couch, before she scrabbled to answer it, not looking at the caller ID.

"Cal?" she asked breathlessly.

"He's not with you?" asked the voice of Ben Reynolds.

Disappointment flooded through Gillian, followed by concern.

"No, why would he be? He hasn't called to say you guys had finished up, that everything had been... resolved."

"We wrapped up a half hour ago. He walked out, said he was going to see you."

"I haven't seen or heard from him since I left the office."

"Great," Ben huffed. "I'll put together-"

"I'll find him," Gillian offered. She already knew where he'd be if he wasn't with her.

"But you might-"

"I'll be fine. Ben... what happened? Did you fix it?"

"Yeah we fixed it. I'm so sorry Gillian."

"Sorry for what?"

~.^.~

The solitary figure in the bar looked up as a chorus of hollers and wolf whistles sounded from the jukebox, his attention briefly captured.

A beautiful woman, looking completely out of place and out of her depth was carefully picking her way through the crowd of men, who were apparently having none of it. They were all drinking in her neat white shirt, cut a little lower than really appropriate for the workplace, but justified by the smart grey pencil skirt, nude heels and blazer draped over her arm.

"Let me buy you a drink sweetheart," one of the men leered at her, egged on by a few of his oily, sweaty friends.

"Not tonight fellas."

The woman went to swipe at the arm snaking its way around her waist, but glanced at the man and left it, shrugging her shoulders at the men gazing at her in false disappointment. One of them made a move to challenge the man who had claimed this lady, but one glance at his bloodshot, purple and blue eye and they backed off rapidly, allowing him to lead her back to his corner spot.

"Thank you," she began as he stopped halfway across the floor, not bothering to sit down. "I wasn't sure-"

"Did you know?" he interrupted, his gaze steely. "The other day, when he took you out, did he say anything, do anything?"

Their gazes locked. She instantly knew what he was talking about and her eyes flashed, a warning that he had better take back every word that had just tumbled out of his mouth. They hadn't even tumbled though - that was the problem. They'd been measured, carefully calculated. He genuinely believed she would have known about this and kept it from him.

"No," she said defiantly, feeling like she'd been slapped.

He watched her, studying her face until he was satisfied.

"Okay," he said, believing her. "You can go now. Tell Ben I'm fine, and I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"You want me to go?" she asked, taken aback.

"I need to clear my head," he offered by way of explanation, but she wasn't buying.

"You can clear your head at your house, or mine if you prefer. Drowning your sorrows here will help nothing."

"I wasn't drinking," he defended himself. "Bought a drink but I barely touched it."

"Okay, I'll rephrase," she said, frustrated. "I don't want to leave you. I've spent all night wondering if I was actually going to see you again, and you know how angry I was about the entire situation. Now I know you're here, alive and well, and everything's over... I don't want to just leave you in some bar."

Her voice was earnest, upset. One shrug and she was walking out of the door alone within a minute.

~.^.~

It was the morning after the night before, and Gillian was angry, tired and late for work. It was the worst combination to start a difficult day off with - she'd spent most of her night switching between crying over Cal's dismissal of her and stomping around in fury. When she entered the building, she made a beeline for Cal's office, knowing she had a few things to say to him.

The building was strangely empty though; even Heidi wasn't stood at the desk being efficient as only she could be. Gillian huffed and carried on walking towards Cal's office faster.

"...thanks folks," she heard Reynolds saying as she was met head on by a small stream of people filing out of the office she was headed to.

Whirling her head around, she watched as the modest staff force of the Lightman Group walked past her, muttering to themselves and giving her strange looks. Gillian rolled her eyes.

So they knew.

"Why wasn't I involved with this?" Gillian asked, storming into Cal's office, still occupied by Torres, Loker, Reynolds and the man himself.

"Staff debrief," Ben told her, while her two employees looked a little shifty. She glanced over at Cal who simply stared back at her, eyes devoid of any feelings whatsoever.

"Am I not classed as staff anymore?" Gillian half laughed.

"We need to go," Torres stated, all but pulling Loker out of the room behind her. He nodded at them sheepishly then escaped too, closing the door behind him as fast as he could.

"Well, bloody hell, you moan when I count you alongside everyone else and you moan when I don't," Cal piped up for the first time.

"I don't need this," Gillian said, shaking her head and making to leave again. She'd assumed Cal would both be apologetic and in need of a friend this morning, and he appeared to be neither. She had to get out of the room before she said something she might later regret.

"Gillian, wait," Reynolds said, and she turned to face him, expectant.

The detective turned to face Cal, but his face remained passive and uninterested.

"For God's sake," he groaned. "You two need to work out whatever this is before I talk to you together. I'll be back in a bit."

With that, Ben walked past Gillian, closing the door behind him and leaving them alone in the room. Cal stayed sat in his chair, calmly surveying his partner with such emptiness that if she weren't so mad, Gillian would be concerned. Slowly she wandered over to the chair opposite his desk, sitting down in it and feeling horribly formal.

For a while the two friends just sat there, letting the awkward atmosphere fill up the room as they both remained silent.

"How did you know where I'd be last night?" asked Cal, not really interested in the answer.

"Just a guess. It was the third bar I'd been in looking for you," Gillian replied coldly. Two could play at that game.

"Third time lucky."

Quiet settled between them again, until Gillian decided to change tactic, crossing her legs and facing her partner in crime properly, leaning forward just a little as he leaned back.

"Cal. Talk to me. I thought you'd be relieved it was all over, but instead you're distant, you're angry - you accused me of knowing his plan all along, you haven't explained how you gained a considerable black eye... please," she said helplessly.

"We had a fight," Cal explained, tackling the last question. "Before Ben intervened. I baited him, he dropped the gun, punched me in the face, I punched him in the gut and then the cops were there. They were just waiting for him to get rid of the pistol."

"Was it the same... the same one...," Gillian trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence but trying to keep Cal talking. He wasn't even looking at her anymore, eyes fixated on his desk.

"They'll have to check back at the station, but the arms guy on Ben's team reckoned so," Cal said bluntly, apparently uninterested in the fact he'd had the same gun pointed at him twice now.

Gillian fell silent after this. She didn't know what else to say, and it was obvious Cal wasn't going to expand on anything else. She studied what she could see of his face closely for a moment, given that his dead voice wasn't giving her much to go on, but his face was just as emotionless.

"Cal," she said finally, her voice breaking halfway through his name.

That caught his attention, and he finally turned to look at her, noting the unshed tears glistening in her eyes, the way her bottom lip was quivering but her jaw was set, trying to stop her feelings getting the better of her. His cold eyes didn't change.

"What?" he asked expectantly.

"Talk to me!" Gillian cried. "We've spent the past few months arguing on and off, and now, when we can finally put everything behind us and move on, we're not talking again; you seem mad at me and I don't even know what I've done. Cal, I don't want us to keep arguing like this, I can't take much more of it."

She finished and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, while he surveyed her. A few tears had slipped out, making their way down her cheeks and he watched their journeys with a hard expression.

"He said something. And it got me thinking. That's it."

"What was said?" Gillian asked, confused.

~.^.~

"Lightman, that's enough!" yelled Ben as he and another man restrained Cal.

It didn't matter that he was seeing stars still, or that his head hurt like hell. It didn't even matter that his eye was swelling itself shut, or that one of his favourite vases was lying on the floor in pieces. All he wanted was revenge.

"I want to kill that-"

"Enough!"

On the opposite side of the room, a grinning man was being handcuffed by police, having the usual protocols read out to him and apparently not giving a damn.

"She is never going to be happy with you," the man said with a smirk, not attempting to struggle against the policemen at all. His mission was complete after all; Cal had risen to him spectacularly, and now he was going to enjoy watching his target fall apart. "Not at work, not as friends, and definitely not the next level you've always wanted but never had."

"She's happy right now," Cal informed him, giving up and standing still so Ben and his colleague would back off. He was out of breath and dizzy, but he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Really? That's not what she told me."

"Oh yeah?" Cal shouted again, causing Reynolds to lunge at him again before he charged into the madman. "What did she tell you then?"

"She told me she'd been unhappy for months, way before anything happened; all of your arguments, they just convinced her she was right. She finds your pathetic love for her embarrassing. She wants to quit, she just didn't want to do it while you were down. She's miserable with you Lightman! And you'll find out sooner or later!"

"You lying-"

Cal started to spit out some other insult, but his insides were like ice. Reading faces was second nature to him now, he couldn't help but do it, and what he was seeing and hearing right now was not something he liked this time round.

The truth.

~.^.~

"Doesn't matter what was said," Cal replied, brushing away her comment and the event replay.

"Well it evidently does," Gillian pressed, her tone stern and harsh. All tears had vanished, replaced by Cal's cold approach.

"It doesn't matter what was said," Cal repeated, standing up and staring out of the window so as to avoid looking at Gillian.

He needed to bring the subject up, needed to clear everything up, but he didn't quite dare. He could never read her easily anyway, and last night had been pretty definitive proof. Their relationship was obviously struggling, as was now obvious, and he saw no reason to falsely prolong it with Gillian feeling as she apparently seemed to.

"Yes it does!" Gillian cried, standing up to match his level and storming round to him. "It matters! I want to know what was said, so I can try and fix whatever the hell is going-"

"He told me the truth!" Cal yelled, turning to face her, the two of them glaring at each other.

"And what would that be?" Gillian asked coldly.

"That you're miserable here," Cal stated. "And that you'd rather be rid of me."

Gillian recoiled in shock, the words having as physical an effect as if Cal had slapped her across the cheek.

"And you believed him?" Gillian spluttered, stunned. "You're supposed to know when he's lying Cal!"

"And he wasn't lying," Cal told her. "He knew things only you could have told him - how do I know you haven't shared everything you were feeling with him? He was so obviously telling the truth that I don't know who to listen to."

"You listen to me," Gillian said softly, the earlier sadness returning to her voice.

She wanted to cry. Every part of her was seething with rage, that her business partner and closest friend would rather believe a man he'd hated for the entire time he'd known him than herself.

"You are miserable here Gillian," Cal said in a resigned tone.

"So are you... sometimes," she pointed out. "When we were talking, he asked me if there were any parts of my job I didn't like. Obviously I mentioned a few moments, because no one has the perfect career. It was a ploy to get me to work with him - I thought nothing of it, and I didn't think he had either. Knowing him, he probably made stuff up as well."

"Moments such as our arguing?" Cal asked, his eyes cold again.

"Of course that was miserable Cal," Gillian said, rolling her eyes at him. "How could I not mention that?"

He was silent for a second, and Gillian wondered if he was mulling the statement over, but as she studied his face, she realised he was doing the same.

"Forget it Cal," she said, shaking her head. "If you can't believe your best friend from the off, we don't have much chance of patching things up anyway."

She turned to grab her purse from where she'd placed it next to her chair, but paused when Cal said her name.

"I don't want you to be unhappy," he told her, his eyes finally conveying some emotion, though it was mixed, conflicted. "I don't want this all to end over one argument. That means he's won, you're free - you can go with him whenever he gets out, and if not, I'm still out of the picture."

"And so this, right now, this isn't arguing? This isn't him winning?" Gillian retorted.

"Lightman. Enough."

Cal and Gillian both flinched in shock, neither of them having realised Reynolds had re entered the room.

"Some people knock," Cal said tightly.

"You know as well as I do that he was trying to get a rise out of you last night, and it appears he succeeded," Reynolds said, rolling his eyes. "So leave it. Now I need to talk to both of you and get back to the station soon - my boss is already giving me an earful over last night."

He glared at Cal, who defiantly avoided Gillian's questioning gaze.

"Sometime today," Reynolds pressed.

Cal rolled his eyes then sat back down at his desk, crossing his legs on his desk. Gillian followed his lead and perched in the chair she'd occupied previously. The two looked up at their associate expectantly.

"So..." he began.

~.^.~

Cal wandered into the little canteen in his building, taking Loker and Torres by surprise.

"Something for us to do already?" Torres asked. This was surprising, even for Lightman. Ben had only left his office fifteen minutes ago, followed by Gillian.

"Nah, just wanted a change of scenery," he said, plonking himself down on one of the uncomfortable chairs.

"Okay," Loker said carefully from next to the coffee machine, glancing over at Torres who looked just as confused as he felt.

"How's your eye?" Cal asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"It's fine," Loker said, frowning.

This was odd, for two reasons. Firstly, his eye had been better for a good month and Cal had never enquired about it before then. Second... this was Lightman. Since when did he care about their wellbeing?

"Good," Cal nodded, then directed his attention to Torres. "Straightened your office out?"

Ria grinned suddenly then looked at Eli knowingly.

"Is this some poor, half-assed attempt at apologising?" she laughed.

"It's the best you're gonna get love," Cal said, half smiling as he stood up. "Take it or leave it."

"Touching words," Loker called after him as he left the room, glancing back at Ria and rolling his eyes.

~.^.~

From: Cal Lightman  
>To: Gillian Foster<br>Subject: Truce

Dinner at mine, eight o'clock. Nothing fancy.

Sent at 12:03

From: Gillian Foster  
>To: Cal Lightman<br>Subject: Re: Truce

Sorry, I'm busy.

Sent at 12:04

From: Cal Lightman  
>To: Gillian Foster<br>Subject: Re: Truce

Then why reply within a minute? You're not busy now and you're not busy tonight. Don't make me come into your office and beg. I know you escaped there for a reason.

Sent at 12:05

From: Gillian Foster  
>To: Cal Lightman<br>Subject: Re: Truce

I'll think about it.

Sent at 12:08

From: Cal Lightman  
>To: Gillian Foster<br>Subject: Re: Truce

A three minute gap doesn't make it any better. I'll whip the chocolate fountain out.

Sent at 12:09

From: Gillian Foster  
>To: Cal Lightman<br>Subject: Re: Truce

You don't have a chocolate fountain. The most you can do is melt a bar in the microwave.

Sent at 12:12

From: Cal Lightman  
>To: Gillian Foster<br>Subject: Re: Truce

So that's a yes?

Sent at 12:13

From: Gillian Foster  
>To: Cal Lightman<br>Subject: Re: Truce

Seven is better for me. And I want a properly cooked meal. And no melted chocolate - buy a dessert if necessary.

Sent at 12:20

From: Cal Lightman  
>To: Gillian Foster<br>Subject: Re: Truce

Bloody hell, you can make a man sweat.

Sent at 12:21

From: Gillian Foster  
>To: Cal Lightman<br>Subject: Re: Truce

I can still change my mind.

Sent at 12:22

From: Cal Lightman  
>To: Gillian Foster<br>Subject: Re: Truce

See you at seven.

Sent at 12:21

~.^.~

Two separate offices, two separate people.

One matching half smile forming as they looked at their computer screens.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Goodness knows if anyone is still reading this. If you want all the excuses for not updating, it's all on my profile. The entire time I've been away, I've been writing, but it's only recently I've found the will to finish this story. I will never leave a story abandoned, especially when I have it all planned out, which is why I'm back with this badboy. I've been working on this chapter all week, and it was originally intended to be the penultimate chapter, with a final epilogue, but it's so long, I've had to split it in two. Good news is, because the next chapter is mostly written, it shouldn't be too long, and I definitely mean that this time! I appreciate it seems like I'm wrapping up really quickly, but this honestly has been the plan from the start, and as is obvious, I've had a love-hate relationship with this story, and rather than continuing with the aftermath of everything, I'd rather neatly wrap it up, and store it away as my very first LTM fanfic, so I can focus on other things. And I'm proud of that, even if this story isn't so great. It's taught me a lot; my writing has definitely improved since I began, I now know to introduce suspects much earlier on (!) and because I got so tired of it, I tried writing in different styles, which is so exciting. On that note, I know this chapter is written very haphazardly - this is mainly so I don't get bored and give up, so I hope it's not too confusing to read. Finally, I appreciate there are a lot of unanswered questions in this chapter - they should all be answered in the next part. If not, I've gone wrong somewhere. Congratulations to anyone who got to the end of this enormous author's note, and thank you so, so much for reading, whether you're reading this for the first time or if you're a hero who has stuck with it since I began. I enormously appreciate feedback, and with that, I'll let you get back on with your life. :)**


	19. Reveal

19. Reveal

Cal rubbed his hands together nervously.

It was five past seven almost, and Gillian was never late. And yet here he was, anxiously hovering by his front door, wondering where the hell she was. Sure, five minutes was hardly something to get worked up over, but this was Gillian. And they'd felt like five centuries.

He'd irrationally thought that she might have been in an accident at first, or maybe something had happened at her house and she needed help. Then he took stock and realised that a much more logical explanation was just that she'd changed her mind because she was still furious with him. Which she had every right to be.

The knock at the door he'd been expecting made him leap a foot in the air.

He took a deep, nervous breath. Never in his life had he been sweating about his best friend coming over, but he knew he was in trouble at the moment, and if he didn't rectify it tonight... well he didn't know what would happen. But it wouldn't be pretty. And Emily would kill him.

"Hey," he said softly, his voice betraying his emotions as he opened the door to find Gillian stood there.

To her credit, she didn't mention the falter in his greeting, despite the fact they both knew she'd heard it very clearly.

"Hi," she replied, a little bit more blunt.

Cal gulped briefly then offered to take her coat, taking as long as possible to hang it up in his entrance way before following Gillian into his lounge.

"So..." she said, turning to face him as he walked in.

He looked at her, noted how pretty she looked in her purple blouse, dark blue jeans, hair loose around her face, slightly tousled. She'd re-done her make up since leaving work, something he found a strange sort of reassurance in. It meant she hadn't just turned up with the intention of leaving straight away. Unless she was going somewhere after. But he let himself doubt that.

"Dinner's cooking, should be ready in twenty minutes or so," Cal began, knowing he was deflecting but not caring. "If you're hungry."

"What's on the menu?"

"Beans on toast," he tested, which earned him a small smile from his business partner. "Brown sauce on top."

"My mouth is watering," she replied dryly.

"Mine is," he admitted, and this time the smile reached her eyes. "Salmon. Bit of asparagus. And some roasted veg. And a few potatoes."

"Sounds good," she said, surprised. She'd half been expecting the beans on toast.

Gillian surveyed Cal. He was wearing his standard attire; black polo shirt, dark jeans, but the fluffy bunny slippers she'd happened to see a few times were gone. His hair looked ruffled, like he'd run his hands through it a few times, and he was wearing glasses, which meant he'd been concentrating before she arrived. She had no idea on what. She looked at his face again, and as worried and sheepish as it was, she still felt her stomach dance a little.

"Please sit down," Cal said suddenly. "Settee, armchair, anywhere. This feels stupid."

He gestured to the two of them stood facing one another in the middle of the room, Gillian still holding her purse defensively.

She sat down on the couch, which Cal took as encouraging, and he took his place next to her, turning to face her rather than them both staring at the blank television screen opposite. Following his lead, Gillian pushed off her pumps with her toes and curled her knees up to her chest, looking at him with wide, curious eyes.

"So I assume you asked me here for a reason," Gillian started. "And not just a truce, because I've been mad at you many times before and I don't usually get dinner."

"Mmm," he mumbled, and she huffed.

"Cal. You have to explain to me what was going on last night. And this morning. You owe me that much."

Cal looked at her and nodded. She was right, of course. And yet he felt like such an idiot, such a prize wanker. But he had asked her over for a reason, because he hadn't behaved well at all, and he had to make it right. He'd realised that roughly ten minutes after she'd left the room and Ben had departed with one final look which meant, make things right or you'll have hell to pay. He was right. So Cal launched straight into it.

"He knew me, Gill. He knew me, you know? It scares me that someone I know dislikes me."

"Cal," Gillian said after a pause, looking at him as if he'd gone slightly mad. "A lot of people you know don't like you."

He fixed her with a look, which she returned with a cheeky smile.

"I didn't know anyone disliked me enough to want to kill me though. That's... that's terrifying. And then they dislike me enough to put everyone I know in danger too. I needed some time to get my head around it. And he was married to you Gill, and I hate myself for it, but you were an easy target, and it was, god, so wrong, but I was in a state, my head was messed up, and I just..."

"I understand that," Gillian said softly, resting a hand on his arm, hearing the anguish in his face reflected in his voice and knowing he meant it.

"Do you though darling? Because I was a right tit, and god, I'm so sorry. So, so sorry."

"I know you are," she assured him with a gentle smile, his intense expression relaxing a little. "And I understand."

And she did.

He softened at this, a fresh wave of guilt flooding through him at such easy forgiveness.

"I'm sorry for accusing you of knowing what was going on as well. I know you better than that."

"Well I should hope so," she said firmly, letting him know that had been out of order. "I don't know why you believed him so easily though. We seem to end up interrogating a psychopath every other week at work, and you dismiss them so easily, when we know they're lying but their faces say otherwise. But one man, who you already know you can't trust... you just believe him from the word go. Over me."

"He scared me. I wasn't thinking straight, and everything he was saying sounded true..."

Cal trailed off at that, knowing he'd been wrong.

"Cal. I've been angry at you. You know that. You ignored the whole problem when it first presented, and it took a physical attack on Eli and a near miss at me for you to realise there might be something amiss. Then, when it was your turn, you were a nightmare, and every time I tried to help, you pushed me away. Finally, when I thought you couldn't do anymore, you come up with some stupid, stupid plan to end this once and for all, and I know Ben supported you, and ultimately it worked, but it was still stupid, and very selfish. And last night, all I wanted was to know you were okay, because I've been through your near death once already, and that's one time too many. And you push me away again. And this morning."

She paused for breath and Cal reeled at her rant, speechless.

"So yes, I've had my moments. But we've been working together for far too long now Cal, and I've been your friend longer than that. And god knows you've screwed up enough before now. And look at us; we're still curled up on your old couch, somehow angry with each other but not, accompanied by the awful smell of burning fish."

Cal leapt off the couch, not even acknowledging Gillian's heartfelt speech in his panic over the food. Where had that twenty minutes gone?

Gillian sauntered into the kitchen, highly amused, to find Cal attempting to serve up unappetising salmon steaks and blackened vegetables. It was painful to see asparagus so mushy.

"I'll call for takeout," she said softly, placing a hand on his arm to stop him trying to salvage the ruined food.

"I am so sorry," he began, but she just laughed, wandering back out into the hallway and heading for the phone.

~.^.~

"We're okay right?" Cal asked, wiping away the chocolate sauce from Gillian's chin with his thumb.

"After this dessert? Most definitely."

They were sat on the floor, backs against the couch, surrounded by empty takeout boxes and the remains of the world's biggest, sickliest chocolate cake between them. The salmon and vegetables were outside in the trash, long forgotten in the shadow of Chinese food and chocolate, a combination only Gillian could enjoy. Cal's glasses had been abandoned on a table somewhere, and Gillian had no clue where she'd put her purse.

"Seriously Gill."

"Seriously Cal," she smiled lazily, closing her eyes and leaning her head on his shoulder. "As long as you're never that mean to me again."

"Never," Cal assured her.

"Until next week," she giggled.

Cal glanced at the wine bottle next to her, nodding in understanding when he noticed it was nearly empty and his first glass was still next to him, half full.

"What are you going to do about him then?"

"We're going to have to refer to him by his actual name at some point," Gillian pointed out.

So far everyone had avoided saying the name directly. It was like admitting who it was would bring back bad memories, keep him there as a threat and not just a delusional man now safely behind bars.

"I was married to him," she added.

"Fine. What are you going to do about Alec?"

They both tensed, and Cal's arm found its way around Gillian's shoulders, pulling her a little closer.

"Nothing," she shrugged. "He's gone. He failed at whatever he was trying to do, and that's that. I closed that chapter a long time ago, and this doesn't open it up again."

"Good," Cal said, a little proud of her strength.

"What about you?"

"I'll follow suit darling."

"Sounds like a plan," she said sleepily.

"I think you've had enough wine love," he laughed.

"I spend too many nights in your spare room," Gillian sighed, looking back up at him.

"Yeah, you do," he admitted, earning himself a playful punch in the arm.

"I missed you the last few days," Gillian said, straightening up and looking at him properly again, running a soft hand down his face, feeling his rough stubble under her fingertips.

He closed his eyes briefly, savouring the contact and then opened them again, to find Gillian's bright blue ones much closer to his own.

"Gill," he said, his voice not much more than a whisper.

Her expression was unguarded for once, all the worry and anger from the past few weeks gone and it was nice to see her look so carefree, so untroubled. He could detect more in her expression though, and although he knew she was tipsy, verging on drunk, and he really, really shouldn't read too much into it...

"I'm glad," she said, moving closer again, and his hand moved from round her shoulder to the back of her neck, sending a thrill right through her. His other one found her cheek, her hair brushing the back of his hand and she closed her eyes, sighing in contentment. "That you didn't die."

He grinned, looking forward to the next few hours.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Just to annoy everyone, as ever. Felt in the mood to write something, and I owe this story a chapter. Plus I love writing Cal and Gillian like this, especially when Gillian's a tiny bit tipsy (The Canary's Song, brilliant ending). So, that's that. It was Alec. Bet no one saw that coming... One more chapter of this badboy to go, and I'm not going to re-cover all the emotional stuff about this story that I put in the author's note of the last chapter, but it is exciting that I'm close to finally marking a proper story as complete. Also, I definitely need to address something; I am most definitely not stopping writing ff for LTM! Apparently I made it sound like that in the last chapter - definitely not the case! I'm saying a firm goodbye to this story, but the LTM fanfiction archive is my favourite on this whole site, and there's no way I'd abandon it. So don't worry! Anyway, I've rambled enough. As ever, thanks for reading, and I hope I'm tying this story up in a half decent manner. :)**


	20. Epilogue

Epilogue

Emily Lightman took another look at the seemingly uninhabited house and sighed. Three times she'd knocked, and no one had come to the door. She'd even tried the doorbell, which hadn't worked for the last two years. It made no sense. Her dad was in. He'd been in when she'd left last night for a party and he'd promised he'd be in this morning when she got home after sleeping at a friend's.

Now she'd have to unlock the door herself which meant finding her key buried in her enormous bag. That was even on the off chance she'd remembered them.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" asked Cal, opening the door so quickly she screamed. "One knock would suffice."

Emily shot her bleary eyed, half annoyed looking father an angry glare that rivalled her mother's.

"I just nearly dropped my phone," Emily pointed out, unimpressed, while Cal stood there with a matching expression. "And you didn't answer in one knock."

"I don't care," he replied bluntly. "And I don't have a superhuman ability to get down the stairs in three seconds flat.

They stared each other out for a minute until Cal finally stepped aside.

"Well come on in then, I'm in my pyjamas."

Emily looked him up and down, rolling her eyes at the slippers, then bustled past him as he closed the door again.

"Good night?" he asked, giving her a hug as she dumped her bags on the floor.

"Yeah, we started off at Jess' house, but then she got a call from her friend's older brother so we-"

"Ignored this call and stayed inside, all night, painting nails, watching films and eating too much chocolate," Cal finished.

"That is exactly what happened," said Emily mischievously. "I didn't see a single boy all night."

"Get away with it," Cal said, grinning and swiping at her.

"So, why didn't you answer the door?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I was having a well deserved lie in. Being as it's Saturday and all that."

"Hmmm," Emily pondered, seeing slight discomfort in her dad's eyes. "Did you go out last night too?"

"No," Cal said, frowning. "Why?"

"You're hiding something."

"You need to spend more time living with your mum rather than me. Although she always accused me of the same thing, and she isn't half as good at reading faces as you are."

"Stop it," Emily said, hitting him. "I will find out what it is."

Cal was sure of it. It wouldn't even be difficult. He could already hear light footsteps padding down the stairs.

Gillian wandered into the living room, looking slightly sheepish in one of Cal's oversized jumpers and some pyjama bottoms. She glanced at Cal, looking sleepy but happy at the same time, which was exactly how he'd felt until Emily had tried to bang the door down. He returned the small smile, relieved it wasn't awkward between them, and pleased she was evidently no longer angry at him, although last night had done a lot to alleviate those fears already.

They both turned to Emily in unison, who was stood there, speechless for once in her life. She'd seen Gillian in pyjamas a few times before, and it wasn't the fact she'd stayed the night that left her lost for words. It was the shared, fleeting look between her and her dad that had told her everything she needed to know. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take her very long to make a comment.

"Are you two finally dating?"

"There is a possibility Gillian will be spending more time here," Cal said vaguely, knowing Emily wasn't buying.

"Well, good luck," she directed at Gillian. "It takes courage."

"Oi," Cal said, as Gillian grinned.

He was pleased. He'd had no idea how Emily would react to Gillian spending the night, and though he doubted his daughter would ever mind, he still didn't want to impose another woman on her without warning. Not that Gillian was just anyone.

"So, is there any breakfast going?" Emily asked, lapsing into normal conversation as if Gillian sleeping over happened every day.

"Didn't you eat enough chocolate last night?"

"Sure dad," Emily said, reaching over to ruffle his hair then following Gillian into the kitchen. Gillian's pancakes beat Cal's egg muffins any day.

~.^.~

It didn't take long after this little exchange for everyone else to find out about Cal and Gillian's budding relationship. The occasional stolen kiss in the hallway and sideways glances when they were supposed to be doing other things eventually turned into them arriving at work together, both eating in Cal's office or going to a restaurant together, and after a few months, going home together too.

They were taking things slowly. They'd been friends for years, as well as single for a long time, but everything was a little different. Alec had probably been the catalyst for them finally realising that they should act on their feelings for one another, but he'd also been the catalyst for many arguments and moments of uncertainty between them.

Cal knew he'd screwed up during the whole thing. That Gillian was still even business partners with him was a miracle. It made him realise just how amazing she was. And although Gillian knew many others would have abandoned all hopes of ever reconciling friendship after some of the things Cal had done, nearly losing him had made her realise it didn't matter. He would always be Cal, and that's what she loved about him.

But they still didn't want to ruin things. So they were coasting along, happily, soppy to the extent that Loker now made a point of gagging every time Cal said anything vaguely romantic. Cal's equally immature response was to cough loudly any time there was tension between him and Torres, who would simply roll her eyes and continue with what she was doing, much to Cal's amusement.

Today marked four months since the night Cal and Gillian had firmly put the threat to the Lightman Group behind them.

It had been an interesting four months. Alec was safely behind bars doing life for all manner of charges. Emily had been through two boyfriends and was currently on her third, Jacob. She claimed she was in love and couldn't think of anyone she'd rather be with - Cal's theory was that she was simply pleased she'd found a guy whose name he couldn't mock. Gillian had distinctly spied Loker and Torres getting coffee together several times outside of work, and had noticed the one morning they arrived within seconds of each other. She didn't want to question them about it, and definitely wasn't planning to tell Cal about her findings. It just made her smile whenever she thought about them.

And Cal and Gillian had just been, happy.

"Gill," Cal yelled, sticking his head out of his office door.

Gillian turned to look at him from where she was stood at the other end of the corridor, easily fifty metres away. She lifted her arms up, as if to ask what he wanted, but he just waved his hand, beckoning her to him.

She smiled and turned on her heel, proceeding to walk back up the corridor to where Cal was waiting. He smirked as he saw her moving closer, and she shook her head in mock annoyance.

"What?" she asked as she finally paused in front of him.

"You were passing by, thought you might like a cup of tea," said Cal simply.

Gillian laughed as he walked back into his office, following him inside.

"Cal. Again, I was hardly passing by," she replied, an amused tone in her voice.

"Gill. Again, I could see you and you could see me, so I'm classing that as you passing by," he said, busying himself with mugs and teabags. "You want a cuppa, right?"

"Sure," said Gillian, flopping down onto the couch.

"Knew I'd get you drinking tea one day," said Cal smugly, throwing two teabags into two mugs and getting the sugar out.

"Don't get too excited, it'll be a long time before I fully conform to your odd eating and drinking habits."

"A long time suggests I'll eventually succeed, because you're sticking around," Cal said, sliding next to her as he offered her the pink mug with a cupcake on it.

"That's the intention," Gillian replied, glancing at Cal's mug that proclaimed him to be the world's best dad.

"Don't judge the mug, Em got it me for father's day when she was six."

"I like the mug," Gillian teased.

"I like that you intend to stick around."

"Smooth. And very cheesy."

"I know," he grinned.

They sat together in peaceful silence, both enjoying the light-hearted atmosphere.

"Six or seven months ago, Torres was bursting in here with a bit of paper while you were crying your eyes out over a psycho now locked up," Cal said cheerily after a while.

"That's a nice way of putting it," said Gillian dryly.

"I try my best. Were you scared?"

"Yes. Every day. Especially where you were concerned," Gillian said softly. "Weren't you?"

"Nah, I knew all along."

"Bollocks," laughed Gillian nudging him in the ribs.

"Oi oi oi, spilling your tea over the real thing here," Cal said, alarm in his voice.

"Cal, it was like two drops."

"Two drops too many."

"You'll live."

"Gill."

"Cal."

"Two drops might make a difference."

"I love you too."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there we have it. I have finally finished a story, for the first time ever, which I never thought would happen (mostly due to my shocking updating schedule). Thankfully LTM is THE best fandom and I just couldn't let you guys down - to everyone that read and reviewed this story, thank you so much. It was pretty difficult writing this ending actually; so many months now I've been hating on this story and when it finally comes to it, I can't let it go. I know it's short, and I'm sorry if that disappointed anyone, but I thought the chapter before this tied up everything we needed to really know. This was intended as a way for Emily to find out, as she fully deserved to, and to just show that Cal and Gillian are finally happy, and together. Hope it succeeded in conveying that.**

**So that's _Threat _officially completed! As one of the first things I wrote for LTM, I appreciate that the storyline/style of writing can at times be iffy; well, I'm a little bit more grown up now, so even if you didn't always enjoy this, please still give my other fics a go, especially _Find Me_, which will be my main focus from now on. I will begin adding outtakes for this story, in a separate story entitled _Threat: Outtakes _- I have a few ideas but if you have any missing scenes/future scenes you'd like to see, and that I left out in order to make the story flow, feel free to let me know and I'll do my best! Also, another shameless self-plug, please read _Things Unsaid_, my entry for McBreezy's current fic challenge, as well as everyone else's entries - they're all looking great, and I love that we can still give this fandom a boost after so long.**

**Sorry for the epic author's note, I just needed to say my piece! Thanks for reading and reviewing :)**


End file.
